What I have been up to....

I was supposed to be organizing the rest of the kitchen but decided to put that off for a while. I was supposed to be organizing the bathroom cupboards but decided I did not want to do that just yet since I need to cut some wood to make a shelf for the cupboard. So what have I been doing you ask?

Easy.... I have been sewing... I decided I wanted to make something for Valentines day that could be left up for the Spring time too... So what have I come up with? You will have to wait and see as it is not done yet... BUT check out those colors....

OOOOH!! So lovely! I am in L.O.V.E. with how the colors blend so nicely... It is my own private rainbow! LOL :O)

I have also been playing with this....

Now, I got this back in September for a SCREAMING deal at the Scrapbook USA here in Utah. But, alas it stayed in its box until today... I got all my cartridges linked to it and got it registered... Speaking of registering it... If you have bought a Gypsy and not registered it you need to. They will give you 5 FREE cartridge downloads.. FOR FREE!!!! Of ones you do not have!!! SCORE!!!! So go register it over at Critcut.com/gypsy.

I am planning on playing with my Gypsy this weekend since we will be in the mountains playing in the snow. Should keep me entertained and DRY and WARM. :O)

Lastly, I have been de-cluttering this space....

It is my craft room. You could hardly walk in here this morning... This wall was stacked to the ceiling with boxes.. You see if I can not find a place for something it gets put in here. Not any more.. I have plans for this wall.. I have a cabinet that I got off of KSL for FREE and am turning it into something spectacular!! But, you will have to wait on seeing that..

This is one of the project areas from last fall... I turned the so called closet area into a scrapbook station. It is equipped with a counter top that I got at the Habitat Re-store. I will show better pics of this area when it is all cleared out. Don't you just love the bolts of fabric? The lighter one is for my curtains in the living room and kitchen/dining rooms. Hope to get those done real soon. The Buffalo check is for curtains and reupholstering the chair in this craft room. I will be working on that soon also.. The large picture is of Wrigley field. I got it for the Hubbs for our anniversary last July.... Still need to hang it obviously....

Thought I would show you the rest of the craft room too... Just keeping it real... Ignore the mess PLEASE because it is a Huge mess.... But, lots better than it was.. Really that is not saying much. As there is a lot to do still... But, as always it is a work in progress..

This cabinet holds lots of goodies... Decor goodies... It's my stash!! SHHH! Do not tell the Hubbs about it...

And the sewing area... At least I can sew now... Before I always had to take the sewing machine off the table so we could eat. So projects got left behind and never finished. Not any more!! :O)

See, here is my stash of sewing projects to be completed.... All nice and neat... Even comes complete with a almost finished key fob... Just one more stitch and it is done... I better get on that one so I can check it off my list...

Thanks for visiting me and I hope you enjoyed this little impromptu tour of my craft room. Now since looking at the pictures I have noticed that I seem to have an over abundance of picture frames... Need one or 20? I will have to come up with something to do with them... Oh, the wheels are a turning......

Have a great one and come back again.. :O)

Last weeks endeavors

So sorry if have not posted in a while. I have been working on a few things.. Mainly dejunkifying my house.. I feel the need to purge everything.. Especially ALL the toys that the kids have accumulated over the years.. I have made 2 trips to the Goodwill and another one scheduled for this week... Progress!!! :O) I thought I would show you all what happens in our back yard EVERYDAY!!! Yeah, that's right... It is where all the deer come and bed for the night which does not help when you want to plant a garden... It just so happens this one came early (about 4 in the afternoon). she stayed there for quite a while until My oldest decided to slam the screen door.

On Friday evening the hubs and the boys headed out with a friend on his boat and see what they could catch on Lake Michigan.. Well, the score was 500 to the fish and only 3 to the humans. My husband does not have the best record with motion sickness... He is the one that fed the fish... Like 4 times at least... My boys were the ones that caught the fish...

Here they are Saturday morning (they did not get home til like 12:30 in the morning so cleaning the fish had to wait). The boys were so proud. Can you guess what we ate on Sunday?

That's right.... We ate fish... It is salmon so that made it alright... Which leads me to what I did today... We have 2 cousins getting married.. Well one got married this last week but, anyhoo... I started their wedding presents today...

What do you think? They are cookie jars with their name etched on with the est. year.... I hope they like them.. I sure do..

Sorry the pictures are not very good. But, you get the idea... I just cut some crap vinyl with my cricut and placed the negative side to the jar then applied the etching cream.. Waited 5 minutes and washed it off and pulled the vinyl off and there you have it... So easy!!

Hope you all had an enjoyable Memorial weekend. My nephew was able to come home from Afghanistan for some much needed R&R. We were not able to be there with him this weekend but our thoughts and prayers and tears are with him... He is by buddy! And I love him so very much!! Thanks Zach for serving our country and risking your life for us.... We love you!! :O)

Okay, Okay, I know!!

Okay, so I know that I have been a little (try a lot) slacking in my posts the last few weeks. I am so sorry.. I do have good reason though... I just can not tell you yet.. Again, its cuz of the hubs... so I am so sorry. I have been working on an on-going project though and thought I would share it with you all.. I saw a post over at Clean Mama and I knew I needed to copy her. See she made this fab recipe binger and with my ever growing pile of recipes this was the answer to tame the beast.. So here it is...


I bought the largest binder I could at Walmart.. It was $7. Steep but I would fill it fast... And I did. This is only like a 1/4 of my recipes and the folder is almost full.. Told you I had a lot. So, anyways. I have taken some pics to show you all my pretty work...

For the full tutorial go here.

Isn't the inside so pretty? I love the colors I choose for this project.. Bright and cheerful! Like me!! :O)

Everything is going in a page protector.

It is quite the undertaking but is and will be so worth the effort... Now I just need to go buy more sheet protectors and another binder.... Until later..... Have a great one..... :O)

Linking to parties on my side bar... Check them all out... You will have so much fun and who doesn't like to crash a party..... :O)

In Progress?

Well, I have been in a sort of project hiatus this week. Lots to do but did not finish anything... I have been very busy taking care of 4 kids, cooking, cleaning, Young Women's, kids homework, and everything else... Did I mention that I am the YW President and have NO counselors or adviser's so it is just me doing all the activities and lessons... I get stressed by it often... While the older two boys are at school I have been trying to tackle a few projects in between entertaining the 4 yr old and 2 yr old... Here are a few.... Tackling the playroom/sun room. I have been working on this room for 2 weeks... I got rid of 3 garbage bags full of old toys and stuff animals. This picture looks messy but, in fact it was much worst. Hoping to get this done over the weekend...

I am tired of walking on toys... My motto for birthday's and Christmas will soon be "Please just send $$ for the kids savings accounts..." Got to pay for their missions and college somehow... :O)

I have been doing A LOT of these....... (I could not stand it so I cleaned the dishes right after this picture was taken... Do you feel lucky that you got to see it?)

And this is a never ending process at my house... In fact I put another load in the wash after this picture..... Now I need to go put those clothes away.... dread dread dread.... Maybe I will wait till the boys get home from school and make them do it? Now that is a thought..... :O)

I have been working on this "little" project that is turning out to be not little at all... It is a binder for ALL my recipes... I am also working on setting up a family recipe blog for my side of the family... I am REAL excited about that. Can not wait til it is done and everyone starts entering in their favorite recipes... Yum Yum Yum!! :O)

Also in the picture is my sewing machine that needed a break since I have been sewing up a storm... I have been making baby presents like crazy.. Just need to finish up some for my sis-in-law who is due in June.... Yeah Brindee!!! :O)

And finally, I have been painting our new bed that the hubs built. It took him just a few hour over 2 nights. He is so good... But my job is the painting... Now these pictures are just showing the priming that I have been doing.. Just finished that this morning... Why is it taking me so long you ask? Did I mention that I have 4 kids.... 2 still at home during the day that I have to keep busy and quiet since the hubs works nights? And I am the YW President with NO counselors or adviser's...

It is just a fact that I live with EVERYDAY!!! But, I love every minute of it.. Even if you do not hear me "Say it" "Out loud".... Okay, my little chick-a-dees I know you all know that movie quote... Tell you what.... I will put a little something together to mail out for 2 lucky ladies that can tell me the movie, character name, and the actor that said it. Come on ladies do not let me down....... I know you know it.... So leave me a comment. I will randomly pick and post the winners on Friday!!! This should be fun... My first drawing.... I am so giddy!!! :O) Until then! Have a great week....

Movie night consessions

Thought I would show all of you wonderful ladies what I have been up to today... Besides baking bread. LOL Tonight is our joint activity for the youth and I am in charge. I wanted to show some of the DVD for our new theme for 2010. I knew right away that treats would be in high demand if they were watching a movie. So away I went. I made up these sour cream containers (you know the ones from Wendy's) to put candy in. I thought you all might like to see how they are made if you are not familiar with them. So here goes. I took 12x12 sheets of scrapbook paper and cut them to be (4) 6x6 sheets.

Next, run a strip of double sided tape along one side.

Roll the opposite side of the paper towards the taped side and keep rolling to make the tape stick.

You should now have a cylinder like below.

Use your double sided tape again and tape one end of the cylinder.

Pinch it closed. Make sure that the corners are sealed closed.

Now run the sealed end through a crinkler thingy.. Yes that is the real name of it at my house. But, make sure to only go up about an inch.

See how the end looks like it was done in a factory on a big machine. Yes it is very professional looking.. Aren't we all just so happy.... :O)

When all the cylinders are sealed and crinkled fill them with what ever treat you would like. Since we are watching a DVD I decided movie treats were in order. So licorice bites, gummy bears, and chocolate were on the menu.

Make sure to leave enough room at the top so you can close that end too.

Once filled it is time to seal the opened end. Use your double sided tape again and pinch closed
in the opposite direction. So it will look like a kind of triangle. Does that make sense?

Run it through the crinkler thingy again and you are done!!!

Here are all of mine done. So pretty. :O) Here is my basket filled with popcorn containers purchased at Target in the dollar section and of course the popcorn itself. If you look closely you will notice some shiny silver key chains. I made all the youth washer key chains that say "BE STRONG" on them. I hope they like them.

Okay, I am all packed up and ready to head out.... Oh yeah, it does not start until 7:30. Guess I will just have to go finish priming my bed.

Hope you enjoyed this post. Until next time... Have a great one! :O)

Burp Cloths

So I have been making some baby things to send to my niece who just had her first baby last month. It has been so much fun.. Wish I would have made cute things when I was having babies.. I love the personal touch to everything. I sewed flannel onto some plain white diapers (wrong sides together leaving an opening and turned them right side out and finished the edge and sewed around the edge again). I like how they look but thought the pretty green needed something more.

So I ironed some double sided fusible webbing onto the wrong side of some scrap flannel and then I drew free hand a flower and cut it out. I peeled the backing off the fusible webbing and then placed the flower on one corner of the burp cloth and ironed it on. Next I sewed a zig zag around the edge of the flower and I was done.

Are they not just the cutest? Now I really like them!!! Hope my niece does too..

On another note... Over spring break we had yucky weather... Rained EVERY day!!! The older boys were getting bored and came up with a reward system for themselves and asked if I could help them... Out came the little circut for them to use. They had fun with it.. We are almost done with the project. So you will have to wait just a bit to see the final out come...

Until then my little chick-a-dees.... As always have a great week.... :O)

Pet peeve fixed!

Do you have a pet peeve? One that really bugs you? Like the toilet seat being left up? The tab that you pull off the milk jug being left on the counter instead of being put in the garbage can six inches away? You know what I am talking about.... I have one that upsets me every time. I love to read...and hate it when my kids flip through my book and loose my bookmark. So I came up with a solution.... A MAGNETIC bookmark. Genius I know!!!! And it is so a freecycle project. I like those.. Lets take a look at what we need to make one of these gems, shall we.....

The tools are there in your house waiting to be used. Paper (decorated or not), cutter, scissors, glue and of course the phone book... WHAT? The phone book? Yes, that is what I said. we all get these several times a year and what is on them? Refrigerator magnets. A ha! The lightening bolt struck I saw it....

Cut your paper to your desired width. Mine is 2 inches.

Next, take that magnet off the phone book and cut it into squares using your scissors.

You should be able to get like 6 to 8 squares out of each magnet. That way you can make a bookmark for everyone in the family..... :O)

Next, put glue on the side of the magnet with the writing.

And attach the magnet to the back side of your 2 inch strip of paper.

Then fold your paper over and meet the edges and make a crease.

Open the paper strip back up and put glue on the other square magnet and place MAGNET sides together...

Then fold your paper back and line up the edges again and press down on the magnets to make sure the glue sticks.

And there you have it. Your magnetic book mark. :O) So simple the kids would love to help make their own.

The best part.... It is magnetic so shake that book as hard as you want and it will NOT move... You will never have to try and remember where you were again. :O)

Isn't it grand? And you can customise it any way you want. Like put your name on it or a picture of the person using the bookmark.

Have fun making them. Look around the house and see what you can use to freecycle and fix a pet peeve of yours... Until next time.... Have a great one! :O)