Life gets crazy

Haven't posted in a while. My first term or quarter back at school in the fall is always like this. I'm on homecoming committee and Superman is too at the school where he works. Not only does he work full time, but he's in school as well (getting his masters), teaches a sunday school class at church, I work full time, I'm the primary president, and the cubmaster. We both have to make sure that we devote time to our beautiful daughter, take care of household matters and be there for each other. I don't think I've had a conversation with Superman that's lasted longer then five minutes in past three weeks or so. I guess what I'm saying is that we're busy. Right now, crazy busy. But, the fact of the matter is EVERYONE is. Just wanted to let you know that I have all kinds of ideas buzzing in my head, and all kinds of things to post about, crafty, artsy, and otherwise. It will just take me a while. So, don't go away. I would miss you. It might be a few days or more but I'll be back. I'm just busy right now with this:

See you in a few days!

Something for Sweet Pea's twinkle toes

I've desperately been longing for my sewing machine lately and sadly just haven't had much time to squelch the longing. I made it downstairs into my craft area today but did NOT get over by the machine at all because I saw these little black tennis shoes sitting there begging to be beautified before Sweet Pea's tootsies are too big to fit in them. (I got them on clearance for 2$.) Sooooo, I did this:

Hmmm...the start of something cute, but definitely not enough. So I got out the acrylic paint and primed a flower motif in white first, they are black shoes after all, then I painted over the white with some nice bright colors. Petals and leaves.

After the paint dried I decided I wanted to repeat the black in the shoe in my design so I took a black Sharpie and added a black outline of sorts to all my petals and leaves. Then I sealed the design with matte Mod Podge. (Gotta love that stuff.) Here are the finished shoes. Now Sweet Pea can have fancy feet!

To keep or not to keep, that is the question

I've been trying to weed out my closet recently. Actually, to be honest, I'm a bit of a clothes horse. (To which I'm referring to my obsession with collecting clothing which at times might border on excessive. None of it is excessively expensive, I just can't justify that, but the quantity could be interpreted as excessive to be sure. And I can't seem to throw things away. And I'm not proud of it. Which is why I want to weed out the closet. Especially if I haven't worn items in over a year.) Anyway, I came across an olive green t-shirt that I've worn frequently over the years. It is soft, comfortable, and well worn. I noticed as I was inspecting it to decide whether or not to add it to "the pile" that it had a big stain on the front. Drat! Guess it goes...

But wait! I decided to keep it and try a t-shirt refashion I've been seeing so much of this past year. I cut out tulle circles, several of varying sizes, and pinned groups of them together assymetrically close to the neck and up towards the right shoulder. Then I cut strips of satin and sewed a straight stitch down each strip gathering the strips and pinning them to the shirt over the tulle clusters. It looked something like this:

I sewed the cream colored satin posies in place over the tulle circle clusters. It didn't take very long. It still needed something so I stitched some beads in the center of each posie. Pretty cute! Drat! Guess it stays...

I'll have to find something else in the closet to add to "the pile".

Title: Wow These are Really Bad Pictures, or, This is Why I Need a New Camera!

Thought I would share what I put in the little birthday package I dropped off at my little sis's house the other day. I'll be brief and beg your forgiveness for the absolutely AWFUL pictures. The camera won't focus anymore and the color quality is LOWSY. Sorry.

I made two cuff bracelets identical to the ones I made for myself the other day in aqua and black. You can find the tutorial here. I also included a small stained glass pendant that I made. (I work with stained glass in one of my art classes at school.) For this particular pendant I didn't use any fancy bezel setting or expensive precious metal. I cut the glass, did a couple quick swipes on the glass grinder, wrapped the glass with copper foil, and soldered it. Then I soldered a jump ring at the top and added a little silver daisy charm (we both love daisies) on a short piece of silver chain to the jump ring and slid the finished pendant on a 18" silver snake chain. I think it turned out well. And she likes it! (At least she said she did...it's her favorite color, yellow, so I can't go wrong.) I also tucked a pretty little journal and tiny pen in the package as well. An inspiration journal. Something small enough to tuck in her bag and whip out whenever inspiration strikes, which could happen at ANY moment.

Thanks Bugaboo!

A couple weeks ago (has it been that long now??) I received a beautiful blog award from Bugaboo, Mini, Mr & Me. It came as quite a surprise as I've only just begun my little blog so we're still very much in the infancy stages of everything. I'm honored, and pleased, and motivated to blog even better, and even more than that, I'm excited to pick some of the incredibly beautiful blogs that I follow and pass the love along. But first I'm supposted to share seven things with you that I haven't told you yet...

1. I am addicted to soda. It's a bad addiction. It's not one particular kind either. It's all of them except Mountain Dew, which makes my teeth curl for some reason. My favs are Grapefruit Splash Sierra Mist, Cranberry Splash Sierra Mist, Dr. Pepper, Cherry 7up, and Coke, all diet. I think it's the carbonation. I really love the fizz. It's a gross habit, I know.

2. I have two different colored eyes. Well, to be very specific, I have two blue eyes but my right eye has big spots of brown in it. Big enough that generally people notice right away.

3. I have a cat named Nani and a fish called Wanda. (Funny, eh? I mean the fish called Wanda...)

4. I love baking. My favorite thing to bake is chocolate chip cookies, and I make killer ones. My second fav, cheesecake. The real deal. I make a killer one of those too.

5. I'm an advisor for TLC at the high school where I work. It's Teens Listening and Caring, and it's a peer helper organization.

6. I LOVE fall. So much.

7. I really want a food processor. Is that weird?

Now to share some of my favorite blogs with you. I present the beautiful blog award to (I know there aren't 10 but these are four of my favorites.):

1. Flower Patch Farmgirl - Her writing is beautiful and so is her story. Her family is amazing.
2. Creative Little Daisy - Her adventures in redecorating are fun. Her pics are great.
3. really quite lucky - Love her photography. Especially when she posts family pics. Her little ones look like angels.
4. 7 Layer Studio - She is genius with the sewing machine. And she's selling patterns now! Lucky us!

So here are the rules as I understand them:
Thank the person who presented the award
List seven things about yourself that you haven't revealed on your blog yet
Pass the award on to 10 (I picked four, sorry!) other bloggers

Thank you so much again bugaboo! You really made my day!

This post's for you

On this day, exactly twenty nine years ago, something pretty great happened. Something I had been anticipating for six long years as an only girl living in a house with two (ewwww) brothers. Don't get me wrong, brothers are fantastic for your "beat up the bully down the street", play "the crayon game", build huge snowmen, play with matchbox cars kinds of occasions. But, what every girl wants at one time or another is a sister. It's true. What I wanted, what I LONGED for, what I needed, was someone to share secrets with, stay up late watching movies with, share a deep and abiding love for chocolate with, be best friends with. There will always be a special, tender spot in my heart for my little sis.

As we grew up together there were many things about her that were typical of a little sister and of the youngest child. She was babied. It's true. (I know you're reading this Bean, and you can't deny it.) She was attention seeking. She was loud. She was dramatic. But there were also so many more things that were extraordinary and wonderful. She was funny, carefree, adventurous, oh so smart, and dramatic. I know, I mentioned that twice. What can I say? That quality can be a plus and a minus at times. She was fabulously dramatic when we would play our "crazy killer pizza delivery boy" game, and annoyingly dramatic when she learned she could cry on demand and get me in all kinds of trouble.

Time has passed. Lots of it. We are both mothers now and it is so incredible to see her as a mom. There are even more extraordinary and wonderful things about her that I've only recently discovered...I never even knew about until now. She is great at being a mom. She is crafty, creative, innovative, patient (who knew?), a good cook (waaaay better than I), musical, a good teacher, fabulous with all little people, a super fantastic writer, and I could go on. I also marvel at how she lovingly cares for my little one as one of her own while I am working.

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is that even though she is my little sis, I look up to her. She inspires me. I love that she's mine. And always will be. Happy birthday Bean.

Instant gratification

As I was taking a cyber stroll through my google reader not too long ago I came across this post by Mayfly. I really enjoy her blog and this tutorial for a cute cuff bracelet was SOOOO easy I couldn't resist. I tried it first with a thicker belt that belonged to my little sis. It didn't work very well. I decided to search for some belts on my own and found some at a local thrift shop, the genuine leather ones work best, for a couple bucks. I already had the snaps and the leather punch and hammer. Here is what I ended up with. All I can say is that it was incredibly satisfying to make it through a project from start to finish in about fifteen minutes and have something I like and will wear. So nice. Thank you Mayfly.

As requested...the severed foot

So, I had a couple requests to see the crow eating a severed foot that Superman included in his Halloween spectacle in our front yard. Here are some pictures taken this morning in broad daylight. Nothing really over the top, pretty easy stuff, most of which was purchased at the dollar store. (Minus the fencing which is the real deal.) Funny thing, I forgot to mention this last night when I posted the original pics, when Superman was done decorating Sweet Pea ran outside to say hi to Gramma. She found the hand (which is a completely fake looking, shiny, plastic hand with fake blood on it) in the rocks and pulled it out. She looked at it, turned it over and looked at it again, then she brought it in the house for us to see. She looked a little sad as she said, "Ohhhhh, look it. Look it the owie! It hurt. Wanna bandaid? He wanna bandaid?" Ewwww...

Disclaimer: Please don't think we're horrifying people. Sweet Pea was totally fine. We explained to her that is wasn't real. It was just pretend. (Not that she really understands at this point but she's walked passed it several times now with not even a second glance!!)

You have to pick your battles

Superman and I had a vigorous discussion on Saturday, not an argument per se, but a very passionate exchange of opinion. He is so set on his viewpoint and I on mine that we had definitely come to an impasse. We happened to be standing in the checkout line when we realized it. He actually asked the cashier what she thought, AS IF what she had to say was going to make ME change MY mind. It went something like this...

Superman to cashier: Now remember, I am a paying customer, and the customer is ALWAYS right, right?

Cashier: Uhhhhh, well...

Superman: SHE (nodding to me) thinks that it's too early, but I say September is definitely NOT too early to get the Christmas music out. What do YOU think?

Cashier: (looking frantically from him to me and back to him) Ummmm, I think maybe you could get it out in October? Or wait (seeing my distasteful expression) maybe the day AFTER Halloween? That wouldn't be too early.

Superman: Oh man! You know what? (turning to me like a kid who just lost a fight) If you just let me deck the house out for Halloween then I promise I'll wait a little while on the Christmas music. But YOU KNOW how much I like my Christmas music.

I consider this a compromise. He does like to get the Christmas music out early. Normally I don't mind that. I love Christmas music. So usually some time in October he will get it all out. The thing that bugs me a little bit about this is that I want to really enjoy it for the duration of the season. And by the "duration of the season" I mean that I like to listen to it after Christmas and into January a little bit. We still have lots of snow on the ground, it still looks and feels Christmasy. He's ready to put it away the day after Christmas. BUT, THAT'S BECAUSE HE PULLS THE MUSIC OUT SOOOOO EARLY. This year he wanted to start listening on September first. Nooooo way. So this is what he got instead.

I don't usually go for the creepy but this wasn't so bad. It might even be kind of fun.

Another niece...

Had to post some more photography. These are some photos of another niece, on the other side of the family, Superman's brother's daughter. They have two girls, and I must say that they make pretty darn cute children too. Their older daughter reminds me of Boo, you know, the little girl in Monsters Inc. who goes through the closet door and gets stuck in Monstropolis. She even kind of talks like her. So adorable. These pics are of the younger daughter. We got a text tonight with a photo attached of her eating. Taking real bites. Of real food. Great googly moogly, they grow so fast. I can hardly believe it. This day depicted here was just yesterday, I swear...

Just one more...

Just had to add one more quick post tonight. Just have to get something off my chest. I want to be a perfect mother. Anyone out there feel the same way? I just want to spend lots of time with my little girl, do creative projects with her, play games, go places, be fun, always keep my cool, never lose my patience, tenderly speak to her in loving tones all the time...but I goof up ALL THE TIME. And then I get so mad at myself. I've talked with Superman about this many a time and it seems to me that all my energy and patience is sucked up during the day when I'm at work. (I work with high school students.) I just feel like the kids that I work with all day long, other peoples' children, get the best of who I am every day and then Sweet Pea gets whatever little is left over. So sad. I asked my husband for help with this and we've talked about it, pondered on it, prayed about it. He gave me a blessing (like a husband's prayer for me especially) as I started this new school year and I'm trying. I really am. I lost my cool this afternoon a little bit and it was so sad to see the hurt in Sweet Pea's little face. Her sad little eyes. It took a whole lot of soft, loving, "I'm sorry" words to bring her back around. And it really wasn't until I drove through McD's and got her a happy meal and we had a picnic on the living room floor while watching Blue's Clues that she finally snapped back to her old self. I have to be soooo careful. She remembers EVERYTHING. FOREVER. I'm sure all little ones do. They love us so much and rely on us to be strong, safe, warm, and caring. Of course she's going to be heartbroken when I get upset. I hope she has beautiful dreams tonight so she wakes up tomorrow only remembering our picnic, and her bedtime story, and my kisses...

My Fat Quarter Addiction Part IV

So, I started this project for Sweet Pea's new bedroom. Well, I guess if I'm being honest the bedroom was new to her just over a year ago, and well, I guess I started the project around that time too. (No one can say that I don't REALLY take my time to make sure the job is done right! Okay, okay, it's called procrastination...it's just that another project always comes around and I get caught up with that and pretty soon I have a pile of projects that are all half done. I know you do this too! Don't deny it!) Anyway, it's three big canvas panels, the kind stretched on frames. I got mine at Hobby Lobby. I used Mod Podge to adhere crumpled tissue paper all over each of the canvases. Then I painted some sky and some hills. And that's how they stayed. Waiting. For a year.

Here's a close up of the texture.

This summer I finished them. I did! And not only that but they are actually hanging on Kaia's walls. (Which desperately needed color as her walls are bare and white and I just don't have the energy to paint them right now. I should. I've helped my little sis paint three of the rooms in her house and they are all gorgeous. Wait, that sounds like I think that my painting is awesome...that's not what I meant. What I meant is that I have creative connections! Little sis can come over here and help me! After all, that's what little sisters are for.) Here is the finished wall art. I used several different colored and patterned fat quarters to cut out shapes of tree trunks, leaves, and birds and Mod Podged them all to the canvases. Then when everything dried I put one more coat of Mod Podge over everything for good measure. I am pleased with the results. A beautiful birdie triptych.

Pardon the poor quality of these last shots...I was using the little point and shoot, and it's dark in here!