Let's all win some free stuff!!

SOOO how did I spend nap time today??? Well I signed up for some amazing give aways at The Dress-Up Drawer. She sells the cute Scripture Hero Capes--I am pretty much in love with them!!! Head over to her blog to check out all of the great stuff that is being given away. I signed up for ......

this super cute computer cover...

amazing cute bracelet...

baby girl headband that makes me happy....

adorable baby snuggler (if I won this I would have another kid just so I could use it).

a pair of these shoesies---I would have twins if I could win these shoes too:)

and these flowers--made by Jennie Pennies cousin Rachel over at Made with Love and Glue. Also check out her turorial for super cute CTR towels--They will make you wanna be re-baptized!!

Well I have never had much luck at winning things, but I REALLY REALLY could not resist all of the great giveaways. Head over there and sign up for yourself--except you better not win:)

Letting out my inner artist

Today I decided to make some art. I was sick of my blank and boring bathroom wall, so I decided I wanted a change. I HATE how much stuff to put on your walls costs, so I thought I would make something on my own. I first thought of using fabric, but fabric is not too cheap either, so I settled for scrapbook paper. It is hard to tell in the picture, but each of the papers has a pattern--meaning it is really cuter than it looks:)

Since I liked the final result so much I thought I would share the process with all of you. First I bought 3 coordinating pieces of scrapbook paper and 3 squares of painters canvas. The canvas was 50% off at Craft Warehouse, so they were only 3 dollars (each) and some change. That plus 1.50 for the paper and I only spent about 11 bucks for the whole project--pretty good huh??
Soooo for the next step I traced around the canvas onto the middle of the scrapbook paper.

Then I folded it on the lines so that folds were nice and sharp.

Then I glued the canvas to the paper. First I modge-podged the paper to the canvas, but on the last 2 I used spray adhesive instead. Either way worked but I am a modge-podge retard so I liked the spray adhesive better. I only glued the front, but not around the edges. Then I folded the edges over onto the back and glued them with a glue gun. I thought the glue gun would stick much better than the other types of glue.

After putting glue around the edges you are left with these little "ears."

Then I just put glue on the back of the flaps and folded them over--like wrapping a present.

Then after it is wrapped up pretty, I painted 2 coats of modge podge over the outside and edges. Just so it would be shiny and maybe last a bit longer. I might skip this step in the future though because the middle one got kinda wrinkly--I think I used too much glue. I think I will get a new piece of paper and re-do that one---So technically it will be 11 dollars and 59 cents when it is all said and done. It is not Picasso or anything that great, but my wall is cute and I am happy. It would work with a picture frame instead of canvas. OR you could use fabric, tissue paper, wall paper, the possibilities are endless. So go and make 1 or 3 or 17 and cute up your walls too!!!

The Key to Killing Time!!

I finished 3 more books in the last couple of weeks. Key of Light, Key of Knowledge, and Key of Valor. They are a trilogy by Nora Roberts. I sadly got a little hooked into the story and couldn't stop till all 3 were read---oops. They are not great literature or anything like that. The main gist of it is---there are 3 women who are chosen to find 3 mystical keys to unlock a box containing the souls of 3 goddess princesses. I know! I KNOW--sounds lame. I don't usually read fantasy type stuff, but the story is 1st and the fantasy is just in the background--like Twilight. They are typical Nora Roberts--with a few steamy skip-able pages and of course all 3 women have love interests in the books. If you need a mindless read--or a beach chair book--then this is the perfect story to pass the time. If you want a book that makes you smarter or challenged--then I would skip Nora Roberts all together:)

Tropical Sorbet

I had a very productive weekend. Marcie came to visit and craft---and without my little sidekick we actually got some sewing done. I also got to watch Pride and Predjudice--YAY!!! I made 5 pillows for Operation Comfort, an organization that supplies pillows and items to soldiers over seas. I have 45 tags left, so I better get sewing pillows:) I also finished a bag that I started over a year ago--Once I find the buttons, also bought over a year ago, I will finish and take some pictures. BUT the quilt was my big finish. I bought the fabric kit for this quilt at Village Quiltworks at least 6 months ago--maybe more. I finished the top and never got up the nerve to quilt it. SOOOOO after the success of quilting my tablerunner, I just jumped right in.

I love the way it looks in my livingroom--it really brightens it up in there.
The fabrics are the same as the tabletopper I made a long while back.

I got masking tape out again and did some grid quilting. I love the way it turned out--even though my lines were anything but straight. You would think I would be getting better at, straight lines, but I think I am faster and crooked-er:)

The back is my favorite part. It is the softest yummiest flannel. I had the binding on for maybe two minutes before Todd was wrapped up in it---So I guess it is a success:)

The kit was called Tropical Sorbet and I love it. It makes me think of summer and yummy fruitiness!!! AND with it done I am 1 step closer to eliminating my unfinished projects list AND getting rid of lots of my useless stash!!

valentiney goodness

Ok--so today did not start off well...

Look Mom I ate all of my yogurt!!! AND I am pretty proud of myself!

BUT after cleaning the endless pink slimy mess off of my kid, I remembered that I had a surprise waiting for me in the dryer.

Last night I stayed up LATE binding my fun Valentine's tabletopper. Emersyn helped me make a flower arrangement (by ripping up my tissue paper) and VOILA--I am ready for February.

I super duper liked this pattern, but am not SOO much in love with the final product. It is cute, but caused me much pain. I sewed around each of the hearts---very poorly--and so it holds a little bit of bitterness. The pattern is called Cherry Chocolate Valentine and is from Cotton Way and I used 3 charm packs of Love is in the Air. The one on the cover of the pattern is only brown and pink and red--no green, but I was too cheap to buy 5 or more charm packs and pick my favorites, so mine has ALL of the fabrics. What I loved about this pattern???? When sewing on the rick rack and sewing around the hearts, you are also quilting, so no stitching in the ditch--YAY!!!
I had a few charms left, so I whipped up this little table topper for my little table.

I decided to try something new and I did some grid quilting. I found my masking tape and went to town. Taping and sewing and taping and sewing. It actually went pretty quick and I kinda loved the finished product.

Although my straight lines are not all that straight, the grid look was fun for a change.

The dotted backing was my favorite part!!!

Add in the beautiful flowers that I got at the football banquet and TaDa!! (BTW I realized that I miss those silly little cheerleaders more than I would like to admit. They really cracked me up!)

I think I like the one made out of leftovers better than the one I paid for, but life goes on. I have never had Velentines decorations before, so I am glad to be able to put away the Christmas runners--finally.

Happy Heart Day!!

Usually I hate Valentine's Day...

But this year I have a feeling it is gonna be cute Cute CUTE!!!

Quilts for Kids

Yesterday the UPS man brought me my cute little quilt kit for "Quilts for kids." This morning I thought I better get it all out and take a look at it. THEN I decided maybe I would sew and cut a few squares. Next thing I knew---my squares were done. All before 10:00.

As anyone who lives in this house knows---10:00 means Sesame Street. So I decided to put a few rows together....Once again before I knew it the rows were ALL DONE!!

Since I had come that far I decided a couple borders wouldn't take much time at all. So in less than 3 hours--VOILA the quilt top is finished. I am pretty amazed at how quick and easy it was.

Why am I telling you this??? Because if I can do it in one morning, EVERYONE should be making one. Quilts for kids is an organization that collects kids quilts for children in hospitals. You can just get on their website and request a kit and they will send you the fabric, pattern, and instructions. Easy as that!! Or you can make a quilt using your own fabric and pattern. Who doesn't like to help kids??? So if you are a quilter or want to be one....I challenge you to request a kit and spend a few hours helping out a sick kid---I know we all have a few extra hours in the month---RIGHT??? PLUS I guarantee nothing feels better than thinking about a sweet little kid cuddling up in YOUR blanket while in the BIG BAD HOSPITAL!!! If you plan on participating let me know--I am curious to see how many people join up. Thank You Marcie for putting the link on YOUR blog first and sharing the idea. I am thinking I might have this bad boy quilted and shipped off before the week is over---that has to be some sort of record RIGHT????

Big Birdie Sneak Peak

Today was a GREAT day. I got to chat it up with 2 crazy crafters--Marcie and Amy--and I finished my Big Birdie Quilt top. We were supposed to be having a craft day, but we ended up having a gab session and a quilting show and tell. Then we added a few hours of work this afternoon and I finished appliqueing all of the birdies on. Tonight I could not go to bed knowing I was soooo close, so I put all of the squares together. I LOVE IT even though I know once it is quilted, backed, and bound It will be much cuter---the backing is amazing (hint: birdie flannel).

One more project--DONE!!

Months ago I decided that I wanted to make purple and gold pillowcases for the cheerleaders this year. I talked about it, looked for fabric, and did nothing to get it going for months. Then cheer was over and I still had not done it--bummer. Then the banquet was planned for tonight and I decided it was not too late. So Em and I headed to the fabric store, sewed our hearts out, and VOILA!! Pillowcases!!!


I love finishing a project. One down---2 thousand to go:)

I was a busy little bee today. Emersyn just wanted to color all day and didn't want anything to do with me, so I decided "heck with cleaning my house--I wanna sew." So that is what I did. I had 2 projects that I wanted to get working on and I dove right in. First, was another tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew. It was a great, easy 1 hour project. I made a changing pad/diaper holder. Click here for her amazing tutorial. She gave quick, easy to follow instructions. For some reason I chose not to follow ALL of the instructions and ended up with a few kinks in my finished project. My first problem...I did not have any minkee or chenille for the chaning pad, so I decided to use a towel. I had a beautiful yellow towel that had been stained (during a previous crafting experiment), but that was basically brand new. So I decided to use that for the interior---minus the stained part of course. It worked ok in the beginning, but then by the end it was just too thick for my machine. I broke a couple needles and had to make a few changes. I also did not cut my fabric to the right deminsions AND decided to make my pocket a little bigger--- because I always think that bigger is better--NOT SO. I ended up with a changing pad that is too big to just throw in my purse. BUT it will come in handy because I decided that it will work perfect for in the back of my car. It will hold 5 or so diapers and a wipe container, so that way I don't have diapers all over the back of my Pilot---GOOD THINKING HUH???

Plus it kept me busy and I think it is stinking cute. I think I need to make about 10 more of these for everyone I know and for ALL of my different diaper bags--LOVE IT!!

My second project by the way was to applique a few of my birdie blocks. I finished 4, which means I have 5 done in total. That is more than half way, so the finished blocks will be making an appearance soon:)

Problem SOLVED!!!

I am a firm believer that you can find the answer to ANY question on the internet if you are willing to look hard enough. I am also a big fan of blogs. SOOOO imagine my non-surprise that I found an answer to a dilemma of mine WHILE looking at blogs. So the problem is (and I know this affects ALL mommys)--PUZZLES. I am sure everyone has a few puzzles like this around there house...

And of course the problem is...where the heck are the pieces???? I don't know how many times Emersyn has brought me her animal puzzle and asked me where the all the animals are. Under the couch??? In the laundry basket??? WHO KNOWS???? WELL I am clearly not creative enough to come up with the answer to such mind boggling questions. My solution was to put all of the pieces into a zip-lock bag and then throw that bag into the toy-box. Kinda worked, but then we just ended up losing the whole bag!!! Good thing for me that Allison over at Cluck Cluck Sew does have a creative bone in her body and imagined a way to fix this problem---Puzzle Pockets.

GENIUS!!!! She added pockets to the back of her puzzles to hold the pieces!!!Click here for the tutorial. So I got the pocket bug and started adding pockets. SO EASY!!! Mine do not look as cute as her's do, but they get the job done. No missing kitty cat at our house any more!!

Now my only problem??? I cannot stop putting pockets onto things. The pocket possibilities are endless!!! I am thinking pockets on certain toys to hold small pieces, pockets on the back of board bokks that have small pieces, pockets, pockets, POCKETS!! I am sure there is something in my craft room that needs a pocket. Where do I stop putting pockets??:)

Emerysn is lucky she never sits still because if she did she may have ended up with a little purple pouch this afternoon:) Don't forget to check out Cluck Cluck Sew for this and other GREAT crafty projects. She is amazing!!!!! My next project is going to be the super dooper cute changing pad pouch---I am on a pouch kick I guess!!

Pinwheel Sampler Quilt Along

OK. So thanks to Marcie (that is blame chica) I have decided to join a quilt-along. The quilt project that Rachel at P.S. I Quilt is teaching is just too dang cute to pass up. If you would like to join the quilting fun (AMY) or just take a look at all of her cute quilts, click on the button on the side of my blog (not the pictures because I did not know how to get that to work--sorry).

One of my goals this year is to use up some of my extra fabric and scrap fabric before I buy a ton more. So I decided instead of buying the layer cake I really wanted (yet) I would try it out using some random fabrics I had left over from other projects. I tried to mix and match and find some that went together. I am not sure if I succeeded or just made fabric vomit--so let me know if you have an opinion on the fabrics I chose. (I might be kicking the dark brown one to the curb--not sure yet). Also let me know what you think for the background color--white or creamish???? Or something else??

Now that I am committed and have spent some time cutting my 10 inch squares, I am ready to get started. I will let you know in 12 weeks what the finished (or at least 1/2 way finished) project looks like.

Beginning the year off with a good book

So I love to check Marcie's blog (for many reasons), but one of my favorite parts is the book list. She listed all of the books she read last year. It got me thinking...I wonder how many books I read last year. SOOOOO I am going to steal her idea (like the thief I am) and start a list.
On top of that----I also hate to start reading a book and HATE it. And THEN have someone say...oh yeah I hated that one too---you should have asked. I hate wasting my time on books that are no good. I am sure there are other people out there who also hate that. SOOOO I am going to be the opinionated girl that I am and give you a short rundown on the books I read(whether you want it or not).
SOOOO here goes.
For the first book of the year I read The Writing on the Wall by Dean Hughes. It is volume one of the Hearts of the Children series. It is written by the same man who wrote the Children of the Promise series (which I LOVED). The first series was about an LDS family and their experiences and struggles during WWII. Some of them go off to war, some stay home, one is a POW, one is a missionary, SOOOOOO much going on. I loved the series and could not stop reading. I learned a ton about the war and the many fronts--not just Germany. Part of the books concern Pearl Harbor, and there is also a portion about Germans fleeing from Nazi Germany. Amazing series. BUTTT that was SO last year. This year was The Writing on the Wall. It continues on with the same family--except this time it is getting close to Vietnam. It is the children of the main characters from the first series and is just as exciting. They go through Kennedy's death, Martin Luther King and the marches, and the fear of nuclear war. I love love loved it and cannot wait to read book 2.
Next, I switched gears. I borrowed a book by Mary Higgines Clark called No Place Like Home. It was a mystery and really kept me reading---very late into the night!!! The main character accidentally killed her mom as a child and then changes her identity because of the press. In this book she comes back to her home town (with her new identity) and horrible things start to happen again. It was really good and had no random sex scenes or anything. Just a good old murder mystery. Highly recommend for a beach or vacation read.
Well that does it for today. I am currently reading a Nora Roberts--so more to the list very soon!!

The forgotten Christmas project

Last year about this time I found a embroidery book with a quilt pattern in it that I was dying to try out. The pattern was shown in reds and pinks, but I decided to go PURPLE and make it for Todd's mom. THEN during the Superbowl, Amy and I began creating this blanket. After that day I put it away and never went back. I just could not get enthused about all of the embroidery. THEN it got close to Christmas, and I thought I would try again. SOOOOO I got it out, appliqued the circles in place, and used up MANY days of cheer practice embroidering myself silly. Then I decided it was too small and went back to the fabric store in search of some border materials. I am super glad that I persevered because I loved the final project. BTW...I did finish it in time for Christmas, but I did not want to ruin the surprise for Marilee. Then I forgot about it. Because I know Marcie would really like to see what our work turned into....here it is.




I machine appliqued on the bubbles, but then I hand embroidered them again to add some zing. I also embroidered the birds and branches and other embellishments. It was a fun project, but I am not sure that embroidery is in my near future:)

Em is a trooper and puts up with my quilting when she is "tired" of it. She tried "Amma's" blanket out for a little resty-pooh!!