Happy Valentine's Day

I hope that whatever today brings you, that you are shown love and are able to share it with others.

Thank you!

Not too terribly long ago my mom gave me her Cricut machine (why yes I am spoiled by her!)

I haven't had much of a chance to use it. When we first got it the girls and I played around and they made a few things - my 10 year old is actually pretty good at using it!

Anyway, with the 8yo's birthday recently, we decided we should whip up some thank you cards and this is what we decided on

Cute isn't? Well, we thought so! Anyway, last night I stayed up getting all the parts ready for her to make them herself.

And so this afternoon she worked on them (and also, loved it and felt so special to get to use the tape LOL!)

I gave her the pieces and even though we had the one card we made, I told her to feel free to make some changes if she wanted to. Here are all her finished cards - each one is a little (and sometimes a lot) different and I LOVE them all!

Just for fun, I'll share how we made them in case you want to whip a few up too!

Materials:

1 sheet 8 1/2x 11" each of purple, blue, and light blue cardstock

1 - 8 1/2" x 5 1/2 white cardstck (folded in half to make a card)

1 - 5 1/8" x 3 7/8 pink cardstock

1 - 5 1/8" x 1/2" stripped paper (I think ribbon would be very lovely too, but we didn't have any to use!)

Sweethearts Cricut cartridge

Simply Sweet Cricut cartridge (or a circle cutter!)

scissors and/or paper trimmer

adhesive

1. Using Sweethearts cartridge - cut out 1 - 2 1/4" Thank You on the blue cardstock (this is the shift of the honeymoon image.

2. Again with the sweethearts cartridge - cut out 1 - 2 1/4" shadow thank you from the light blue cardstock. (So you need to hit shift, shadow, to get this!)

3. Using Simple Sweet cartridge - cut out 1 - 2 1/2" shadow circle on the purple cardstock (to get this you hit shift, shadow, ). If you don't have this cartridge you can cut out a circle any way. I measured, the diameter is about 2 7/8. 

Okay, now all the pieces are ready to go - you just have to assemble! At this point I ran both thank's and you's through my xyron machine because it just seemed the easiest way! I then put the thank you on top of the shadow pieces and set that aside (*note I did all of this for my daughter because I thought that might be a bit tougher for her to do!)

Then I put the striped paper (or ribbon if you are using that) on the pink cardstock. Then the circle followed by the thank and you. Then I taped all of that to card. 

I hope that made sense - it's so much easier for me to do it then try to type up directions! So if something doesn't make sense, please let me know and I'll try to clarify it!

Still sewing away ...

Still sewing away on my special project.

But for a bit this morning, I took a break from it to work on a spur of the moment craft project (aren't those sometimes the best kind?!)

I present to you a train:


But not just any train, a special countdown train. We can't wait until just these numbers are showing:


But right now we are at


Okay, okay, by the time I publish it, there will be 27 days left. Left until what you ask? Left until I officially go crazy. Okay, well, that might be a side effect. 27 days until the 3 children and I board a train in Chicago and travel to Boston, where my in-laws will pick us up and take us to their house in New Hampshire!

I can NOT wait. Although, bummed hubby couldn't go - but he has no vacation left. There is a sad backstory to how all of this happened, but it will have a happy ending. (and yes, I will share all the details with you even if you don't want to read them!)

My middle daughter's birthday is soon - next week soon! This weekend I called to talk to my MIL about what to get her. She said she thought about shopping but realized she had no idea what to get Miss M because she hasn't seen the kids in so long (since last summer people!!). And I admit it, my heart broke. In 1,000 pieces. I felt horrible and then I felt guilty and I thought about how I would feel if I only saw my grandkids less than once a year, and I felt doubly guilty. And the thing is in our house and in their house money is tight. And living half-way across the country from each other makes it hard to see each other with tight budgets, ya know?

So last night hubby and I decided we would make it happen. I called to find out what dates would be okay, and I'm pretty sure I completely made their night - which totally made my night and all three of the kids are going out of their minds they are so excited about this trip. So we are all happy - well, except for husband, who is happy, but sad he can't go. Well, we couldn't make it perfect but we tried.

Of course, now I'm scrambling to finish all sorts of projects in the works before we board that train. And we will be out of the house for a full 10 days and arrive home early morning the 11th day - that's a long time (but when you factor in that's 27 hours each way in travel time, well, it doesn't seem that long really.

Anyway, I'm so excited I could burst. And I had to share with all of you. And to make it even more fun, we made the countdown trains this am. And my kids now think I'm the coolest mom who makes them the coolest things ever. =)

Why I'm planning ahead ...

aka I'm going to whine about my evening!

So my goal is get 175 wedding invitations (and I think I'm doing everything from scratch except the envelopes) done, finished, ready to give to the bride October 31. Which I think is good, since the wedding is mid-February.
Last night I measured the sample, figured out how much paper I will need to get and estimated the amount of tape, ribbon, ink, embossing powder, etc, etc to buy. I'm going to a craft night on Thursday and thought it would be the perfect time to begin cutting paper, so ideally I want to start printing tomorrow.
The best laid plans ... there was not enough paper - in either color that I need. I don't think I have enough ribbon either, but I bought what they had. I bought all the red paper they had that I needed - which was a whole 20 sheets and I need 100. No one there could tell me if they'd even get more in or not which is bad, because if more doens't get in stock soon, well, I don't want to start and have to switch 20% of the way through. I didn't buy any white because they only had small packs (50 packs) when I need to buy roughly 800-1000 pieces of cardstock. Someone told me hobby lobby will let me order a large quantity and discount the price me - I sure hope so, because tonight it was 4.00 for 50 pages of white paper. Which means it would be approximately $80 just for the white paper.

[FTR I would pay that much if there is no alternative because I so want to make everything perfect for the bride, but if I can get it cheaper, I'm going to definitely try!]

The good news is that I have time to make all of this come together. So even though I won't get started tomorrow and will bring knitting with me on Thursday, I'm glad that I went shopping for materials tonight instead of waiting! Because in general, I procrastinate as much as possible. But I knew I could not screw this up. These are wedding invitations! And I'm not going to be the person who pisses off the bride and sends her into a fit of hysteria for not having them ready on time! No, I want to be the person who she loves and adores and is happy with thank you very much!!

So, I'm glad that I didn't go my usual route (which would have had me buying supplies approximately Oct. 30) and that I planned ahead. Also, in an effort to be more organized - something I struggle with way too much, I bought a pocket calendar/planner to go into my purse. And the only thing to be said about that is about time!

Cards!

I have had cards on my mind a lot this week! =)

First, I made some (what I think are) cute thank you notes to send out for the lovely birthday presents I recently received!



I wish I could say the idea was original, but alas it was not and I found them here. What a great idea and I'm so glad I stumbled upon it! She has two sets for sale in her etsy shop, so if you want them but can't make them yourself, go buy!

Then the bride to be came over (from when I made these invites) and we have the details for the invitation she would like to send out. They will look beautiful I think and I can now start to work on them sooner rather than later - which will be good for all of us (because what bride wants to worry whether her invites will be done on time or not).

In other wedding news - a different wedding but still a cousin of mine - I whipped up some rehearsal dinner invitations tonight!


Seriously, aren't they a cute couple? And she's like super-model gorgeous. Of course I met her for the first time when I was, I don't know, 29 months pregnant (okay, I was really 8 months but it felt like a lot more!). But she is so sweet and I just know the wedding will be wonderful. The inside just has the info printed straight on the paper. Of course, they haven't seen them yet so I have to hope they like them as much as I do! LOL

Wedding things ...

About 6 weeks ago I mentioned I was asked to help with wedding things for my cousin. And well, I had good intentions to sit down and get it all done right away (I even started putting things together) but then so much happened and it got lost in the shuffle and I just wasn't into doing it.

Well, they are meeting again next Saturday - when I'll be in Florida which means I needed to get things done before we leave!
Yesterday I made two centerpieces for her to look at (we went to try on bridesmaids dresses and can I just tell you something? The dress she picked is just absolutely gorgeous. I am actually quite excited to wear it!) Anyway, this is what I was able to whip up yesterday afternoon:

choice a:

choice b:

(for this one, the candles are floating candles but since I had to drive with it, I did not fill it with water)

Today I made a few wedding invitation samples for her that I'll drop in the mail tomorrow and they only need to travel about 30 minutes so I hope that they get they within a week - and I'm pretty confident that they will

In some ways they are all pretty similar but I don't know. I hope she likes some of them or at least one part of each of them or maybe someone else will bring ones she likes better.
Anyway, I personally like almost all of them (one I just like the front of but the inside is sort of plain). I don't want to bore you with individual pictures of each card, but if you want to see them, you can look here.

And can I just say, this card is my favorite ... roses are a big part of the wedding so the paper is just perfect I think!

All that aside, I have everything for the kids packed up. Most of the stuff for the car packed up. I just need to towels/bathing suits and pretty much everything for me. And of course, food for the drive but I won't do that until tomorrow night. I am feeling more ready than I thought I would tonight, but it also still feels like I have a million and one things to do! =)

Misc. Ramblings ...

So, I voted today! It was fun. No, actually it wasn't. But I won't bore you with details. I'm glad I did vote though and my 2 year old shouted "let's vote" about 2 million times today and the girls were given the practice ballots to take home and play their own voting game.
Needless to say, the presidential candidate I voted for did NOT win my state so I'm feeling sort of bummed about that. But, oh well, I voted. I counted. And I feel privileged to do so, especially knowing how many people can't vote around the world (and I know it sounds cheesy, but it is true).
Then we went to the craft store, where I bought more than I probably should have, but yet, managed to stay on the amount I wanted to stay at.


(I have to admit I wanted a paper cutter so bad and I'm so glad to get one, but I'm most excited about the how to draw Avatar characters book. We have been in love with that show, I think ever since it came out!)

I started a new knitting project - last week actually. And I am finally knitting something for me! A sweater I fell in love with from the Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2006 magazine (in fact I bought the magazine just for this sweater pattern. And I'm so excited I finally started it. I haven't made much progress ... just some of the back ... but again, it's a start.



I did do my thing a day project for today - another accordion book. I wasn't as happy with this one as the last one, but it will work and it did turn out okay in the end.

Thing-A-Day: Day 4

Continuing on with the book theme ....

My oldest dd made another book today (and really they are so cute. I've tried to take pictures of the pages, but they don't turn out well and I REALLY wish that I had a scanner to scan them in that way). My other daughter made a bookmark. And I also made a bookmark - this one out of fabric =)

I really like my bookmark though. I think it turned out very cute. Although, I was also thinking that I might add a little charm to the end of it to give it some weight to hang down, but I'm not sure because I really like it now and sometimes too much can be, well, too much!

It did occur to me that maybe y'all don't want to see our things each day and that you could go over to the website to look at all the nice things over there (or to just look at my feed). So maybe I will only post the ones I am REALLY excited about.

On another note, my dh told me today he LOVED the accordion book I made and definitely wants me to make more and he thinks I should make them to send to his mom! Which is good because I had a LOT of fun making it and will have no problem whipping up some more! Of course, that will mean a few more supplies might need to be purchased. And oh darn. We all know how much I dislike going to buy supplies to craft with LOL!

Anyway, that's all for today!

Thing-A-Day: Day 3

Today was I made a really fun thing: an accordion book. Now, I have never made one of these before and didn't know how much fun I would have with it. We took a trip to the zoo recently and so I made it from those pictures. I can see how these could become quite addicting! If I ever made a scrapbook from this time, I think the accordion book would fit int here very nicely and give me a way to showcase lots of pictures without doing 10 scrapbook pages.
I took a bunch of pictures, (which you can see here), but I'll just post the mosaic of them here:

My girls also both did their projects today as well. One made a bookmark and the other made a book. It's so cute. They wake up and almost immediately begin to brainstorm about what they will make for thing-a-day today! They are having fun with it and that is really fun for me to watch =)

I do believe that I will be making more of these little books in the future! They really were fun to make. I'm also thinking I might display this on the fireplace mantle for a bit and maybe once a month or so making a new one to put there as a way to showcase photos and have something to save for when I finally get around to making scrapbooks! =)

Thing-A-Day: Day 1

Our first theme is "books."

Today we decided to make book marks for this theme.

Here is all three of ours (my 8 year old's, 5 year old's and mine):

And a close-up of mine:

It says "A book is like a garden carried in the pocket. Chines Proverb"

Photos!

I've been working over here on some good Christmas gift ideas. Of course, I have nothing finished yet, but I have lots of things half-way done. (mostly because I need to go buy things to finish everything up LOL!)

First up to show you ...

A table runner I am making. I need to buy the backing to put on this and then quilt and bind it. It turned out pretty well I think, and I might possibly make a second one to give to someone too. I just don't know if I have enough of the all the fabric and I don't have much else in the stash that is holiday-ish. We'll see.





Second, a bag I'm making ... okay, I know it doesn't look that great now, but I think it will be awesome when it is done frankly. I need to get the pieces for the strap and a snap/button for it as well. I am trying to make an adjustable strap, and this will be my first adjustable strap ever. So that will be fun to do. The plain red is the outside, the flower fabric is the inside.



Third, I am making a paper doll set for a little girl I know. Today I printed out most of the dolls (but I ran out of cardstock and really want to make sure it's all on cardstock) but it hit me that I had nothing to put these dolls in for her to store or whatever. So, today I whipped up what I am calling paper pockets (because I don't know what else to call them LOL!). Then after I purchase a binder, I will cover it in fabric that has embroidered on it "My Paper Dolls" (well, I'll probably put her name on it truthfully) and then I'll stick these in with the dolls in them for her. The whole time I was working on this my 8 year old just kept saying over and over how lucky this other girl is and wow, what a great present - little does she know, she's getting a set as well! And now I know how much she wants them! But today, I just made 4 of them for the other girl. They were around and although the idea won't be a surprise, I want to surprise her with the pages inside - if that makes any sense at all.
And FTR: I am NOT looking forward to cutting all the doll and doll clothes out frankly. But sometime I'll plop down in front of mindless TV and cut them out.



I'm currently trying to get as far as I can on all the projects I have lined up so that I can have a comprehensive list when I go shopping instead of going 20 times between now and Christmas. Also, we are now going to St. Louis Thanksgiving weekend which will give me about 12 hours in the car so I can get a lot of the handwork done and/or knitting done in the car.

Tomorrow will be a day full of running around and not getting anything done at home and this weekend we are gone Saturday and Sunday. But I need to get more work done on these gifts. I'm feeling better about it all though - I have some good ideas and good energy flowing and I just might be able to pull it all off! =)

Today ...

Today I got a haircut. A much needed haircut. Not quite all the hair I wanted taken off (I really only truly got a trim with a few layers built in).
But truthfully, my hair has looked more like a mop on my head than anything else. And I've felt pretty not pretty lately. I put on a few pounds over October and with this blob of hair on my head that looked about 5 inches too long, I NEEDED this haircut people.
And my stylist (whom I found this spring) did wonders again. She trimmed about a 1/2 inch, put in some layers, and I will tell you I bounced out of there feeling pretty again. Of course I also had to go get an outfit for big party this weekend. Okay, I didn't have to. But I wanted to, and we budgeted for it, so I went shopping. Of course, to target where I got a great skirt (on sale 10 bucks I'm pretty proud), nice shirt and cute shoes. Yeah, I'm happy right now.
Really, the haircut did it for me. The haircut really, truly did it for me.
I was also talking to them about hopefully being back in February for the big chop for me and my girls (we are growing out our hair for Locks of Love and I'm currently at 10 inches, one dd is at 9 inches and the other is about 9.5 inches and yes I am anxious to cut it off and I do measure every week just in case we all have huge growth spurts ROFL!) Anyway, the ladies there are all impressed with my oldest daughter for having this idea (because it was truly her idea after she heard it mentioned on the news). They told me to call when we are all ready for our cuts and they will see what they can do for us - I'm hoping buy 2 cuts get one free maybe ROFL! She also asked if I had her permission to alert local media about it to run a piece in a local paper to spotlight my daughter (and I'm not dumb, they'll put their salon name there too and I'm okay with that). We'll see what happens. I think it would be great to have to put in my children's baby books someday, but if that doesn't happen, I don't care because that's not why we are doing it.

Anyway, it was a great day overall. Hopefully tomorrow some book reviews and some photos to show you. Also, I have a great Christmas idea growing in my head. I just need to order the correct things and I can NOT wait to get those here and to show them all. Also, dh got a new print cartridge for us and so I can start printing up all the paper dolls I need so I can start cutting them out (okay, I am not looking forward to that part) and I am going to try to rig some binders up to make them paper doll piece holders, but I'm not sure if the ideas in my mind will come to fruition.

Anyway, I'm bursting with ideas and lots of energy and some good positive vibes. Now I just have to get working on it all! =)

(Wanted to add: these are the people I am waiting for and I hope to make them look something like this after they get here.

Valentine's

Tongith we made some Valentine's for the girls. They need them tomorrow (of course, do you expect me to be more on top of things than to do them the night before?!)
A sample of A's valentine's

And a sample of M's Valentine's. Keep in mind she is 4 years old, but I cut out the shape of the paper, folded and punched and they both decorated them by themselves with stickers and stamps. I think even M's look cute. So I think this is a good project for those of all ages!

Now really, aren't they just cute? I found them at Old School Acres. Now mine do look a tab different. Not on purpose, but because I looked at the her web page earlier and apparently my brain changed a few details from this morning to this evening! But I do like how ours turned out!

20: Christmas Cards

Cards that I made to give away this year at Christmas! =)
I still have a few more to make - I am really enjoying making them too!

Trying something new ....

Yes, this is one of those color by number kits.
I just had to have it. I don't know what came over me. I just grabbed it off the shelf and threw it into the cart!
As you can see I started a bit of it. I have to say, it is very relaxing to just color. I enjoyed working on it for the whole 5 uninterrupted minutes I got today!


Aside from coloring a bit today, I finished the sleeve to ballet sweater for dd while the kids ran around at the park and babyboy sat on a blanket near me snacking. I also made two swatched that I said I was going to do a few weekends ago and never did. One of them is too big right now, and the other is perfect. I will wash and recheck gauge tomorrow. I hope after washing they both are perfect because I'm trying to use yarn I already own in an effort to save money and my marriage as my dh just might not appreciate me buying more yarn when I have several boxes of it here already and had him take several to storage the other day. So crossing fingers it works, and if it doesn't, well they items I'm knitting for gifts, so really, he can't get mad at me for that. It will be cheaper to buy the yarn then to buy a gift from the store! Well, that will be my excuse anyway ;-)

Project Spectrum: May

So for May I decided to join the postcard swap.
I was paired with Paula (which every go over there and wish her congrats on her very quickly approaching wedding!)

Instead of doing a postcard I did a whole card ...




Flowers: my favorite part

It was a lot of fun! I'm glad I did it =)
I'm sitting out June's swap, but may jump in for July ... depends on how crazy things are around here =)