A Day In the Life....

....Consists of wishing I could do a post like you'd see at Bleubird Vintage (example link) - where there is a photo taken every hour...and everything looks lovely and in good lighting and I don't know how she does it, but I really like it.

Alas, I haven't the skills, or the hip-titude, so instead  I will post the good, the bad and the awesome of my last couple days....

Good:

Finally cleaning out my fridge (mystery stink is finally gone, wahoo!)  and freezing the 50 bananas, give or take, that have been sitting on my counter for a week (YAY FOR SMOOTHIES!) 

frozen bananas are just better.  I don't know why, but they are.

Bad:  

 Well, I thought it was a good idea.  

I've had this Pottery Barn hard placemat hanging on my kitchen wall for over 12 years.  I like it, I think it's really cute.  But I was getting tired of it. 

I also bought some chalkboard paint.  I don't know why, I just saw so many ideas on Pinterest and I thought it would be fun to have some kind of chalkboard in the house.  I first considered painting my whole fridge, but then I thought to myself, "The surface and size and thickness of my Chocolat are perfect for a menu chalkboard.  So I painted over it.  And put it back in my kitchen.

My whole family was a bit sad.  Every single person noted their disappointment. Apparently they all really liked it as it was before.  Note Jack's note on the new chalkboard...

"Jack likes Chocolat"

 Woops.

Awesome:  

Tonight I spent an evening at my alma mater to watch one of the Young Women in my ward perform a music concert with her ASL class.  It was a bit weird being in my old high school as a lady.  But I really enjoyed watching the performance (she was really awesome, performed the song beautifully). 

And when I walked outside I remembered my favorite part about going to that school - the view when you walk outside;

Other awesome points of the day include:

*  Getting to play with a cute toddler and brand new, cooing and smiling baby while being able to see my kids at school during the day.

* Hearing that my friend will get to finally go pick up her THREE boys (she's adopting) in the Phillipines in only a couple of weeks!  They are 9, 7 and 5 years old and are about to have the greatest parents in the world.

* Imagining my sister back in Utah and all the fun we will have when she moves back here this summer.    Wahoo!!!

* Watching my husband work so hard from dark to dark and feel so grateful to have gotten so lucky.  I met him in high school and thought he was the most interesting, handsome, irrestisible guy.  Turns out I was right.

CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE: DAY TWENTY

HOLY GUACAMOLE, DAY TWENTY?!!

Today's challenge: Enlist the troops in helping me make some homemade gift bags for the Christmas goodies we (meaning, I ) made.

This is a big job, and Christmas is fast approaching

...besides, it will be more fun to do with the family's help. 

 We put on Christmas movies and got to cutting and gluing.

 The kids did a great job!

  It was a fun experiment that, I think, is going to work out!

Yes.  This was a good idea.

CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE: DAY SEVENTEEN

Copy Cat.  That's my challenge.  I'm going to copy my mother in law. 

My mother in law just finished making a scarf for her daughter.  Look how cute it is!!!
(For more pictures, click)

And look how cute she is!  :)

I happen to have a small bag full of finished granny squares that I started, oh, about three Christmas seasons ago.  I was going to make an afghan for Ada and give it to her on Christmas.  I ran out of two of the colors, couldn't find decent matches and then I just stopped looking.   I never finished it.


I don't have enough squares to make the blanket, but I have enough squares to make a scarf! So that's what I've been working on tonight.  I'm almost done, I just need to figure out how to do those tassels on the end.  

I love the one Cristie made.   Isn't is so cute?  It looks finished and neat and the squares look uniform (how do you DO that?).  The black background is so great with all those pretty colors.




***
Here's my progress so far  (so some of you can get off my back about me not taking pictures of what I make). 

It's getting late.  I better get a move on.

Thanks Cristie for the ideas and tips (not that you presented it as such, but I was starting to stress about coming up with new challenge ideas, this was a perfect fit on a busy day!)

CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE DAY SIXTEEN

I've never actually learned how to fold the paper to make a snowflake.  As I kid I would just haphazardly fold the paper into some flattened ball and make cuts.  Sometimes it worked okay and sometimes it didn't.  That was part of the fun for me.  But after a while, I wanted actual snowflake lookalikes.

The other day, I saw a tutorial on one of my favorite blogs (click) on how to make 5 pointed snowflakes.  The pictures of the red snowflakes, strung up and looking happy, inspired me to give it a try.

My first one turned out, but the rest I kind of messed up.  I thought I was folding correctly, but they all turned out lopsided... Still, it was fun.  I chatted with my sister and brother in law as I cut, it was so nice to have them over for a bit.  (They came from out of town).

I only made a few, and just used paper that had been at arms length.  But, I think I will add more to the wall over the holidays, maybe even get some holiday colors up there.  These are really fun to make! 

I will encourage the kids add some of their own...I need to quit starting projects until after they go to bed.

CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE: DAY ELEVEN

It's hard not to be in reaction mode during the holidays!  There's so much going on!  I still don't have my Christmas shopping even close to being done (that's actually, NOT like me).


This Saturday afternoon was planned by me, because it's not something I HAVE to do.  It was nice to spend time celebrating the holidays in a non-rushed, relaxing environment and creating things with my daughter and her cute friend. 

One of the flowers we made.  See my wreath?  It's filling up! 

A lot of firsts.

* I initiated a play date for my daughter.
* suggested we make fabric flowers
* I pulled out all the stuff and let the girls make a huge mess (and beautiful creations) all over the place
* I didn't rush them
* I didn't go and do something else "while they were occupied".  I stayed with them and had a ton of fun.

Should have taken pictures of the girls.  But I forgot about the blog.  Self-portraits were taken in the quiet of midnight.  :)

 For some links to some fun craft tutorials on making flowers,  click here:  Little Birdie Secrets

stocking update

I finished them.

They look terrible.  I have no patience!  I can only rip a seam so many times.  

I lost the instructions that came with them, and some of the material...so I was learning as I went, and making adjustments here and there

:Sigh:

I'm too embarrassed to take pictures of them. 


I love the idea of making things.  But, maybe I just shouldn't.  One year I tried to a crochet an afghan as a gift for someone.  I couldn't make it easy...noooooo...I had to come up with my own design.  Even though I hadn't yet mastered so much as a granny square.

I didn't sleep at all for 24 hours before Christmas, trying to frantically finish this project.

It looked hideous.  It was way longer than it was wide, none of the shapes matched up, it just looked so bad.  I was pretty embarrassed, but I gave it anyway.

The recipient was more than gracious about it.  

But really, it just looked so awful.

I can just see the conversation - My kids reminiscing many years from now, when I am long gone:

• "Remember how our mom would try to make stuff and how bad she was at it?"  

• "Yeah, like our stockings that are falling apart?  Mine barely resembles the shape of a foot.  And what's up with the safety pin?  Why didn't she just fix that part?"

•  . . . "And how about our Christmas pajamas with the different leg lengths?  They never made it to February."

I think my whole life I've been fighting a losing battle.  But I can't help it.  I love crafty things!  I'm learning (slowly) that I should keep my crafts to myself!

CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE: DAY FIVE

Today I made a simple holiday card wreath.  Well, that's what it will be eventually, I hope.  Right now it's a stick wreath, with a few cards on it - thanks to you type-A Christmas friends.

My goal was to find a fun way to hang those cards without spending any money - using only what I already had on hand.
I rummaged through my storage room and found an old wreath, some fake berries and a ribbon that I've had sitting around for quite a few years.

Voilá!

It's nothing fancy, but I wanted a new way to post the cards from friends and family.

So Fun!  We'll see how it works!

TO DO: Make a List, Check it Twice, Throw it Out the Window, Write a Lengthy Blog Post

Ugh.  The List.  

Most of the items on my list need regular maintenance and upkeep (like the budget and haircuts and yard work, for example).  I've taken so long to accomplish them that I need to start over again!  

I'm considering the list complete (though not perfectly), since the only one I haven't accomplished is the "getting back into my favorite jeans" goal.  (Dang it.  I love those jeans.).   I've decided to check it off, because I've started exercising again and I'm much healthier than I have been in a long time and I just can't look at this list any longer.  I need a new one.

It was good for me, the list. I feel good having worked hard on some big projects.  I've made some progress, and that's nice.

I had the most fun doing the giveaway projects!  I had forgotten how much I love artsy-crafty stuff! Each project was something I had never done before, so unfortunately, they looked like novice work.  (Sorry ladies).  Still, it was satisfying, happy work.

Here's what I came up with (I promised a few people I would take photos of them):

*******

I sewed an apron {no picture}:

I made this for my sister.  This giveaway actually turned out pretty nice because I happened to make it WITH my sister, ha!

Petal Wreath:

I liked this.  It was super easy and I think it's cute. 

Silhouette:

This was for Marci.  I loved her engagement photos and thought it would make a cute silhouette. 












Dream Journal:

This giveaway recipient is an amazing writer and poet.  So I thought it would be fun to "make" a dream journal.  First I made a collage with magazine and craft paper, based on a dream poem I liked (which I copied in the cover of the journal).  Then I decopauge-d the collage onto the cover of a composition book.  Nothing fancy, but it was so much fun.  There is potential for real cuteness and fun with this project.  Ada decorated her own notebook and it turned out darling.







The Sleep Mask:

I was initially most excited about this project.  The recipient of this gift is an Audrey Hepburn fan.  I was watching "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and Holly Golightly was wearing this darling sleep mask with gold eye lashes and green jeweled eyes.  I thought, "It's perfect!  That's what I'll do!"

Unfortunately, this project requires dainty, detailed embellishment-type work and was really difficult for me to make.  The eye lids are very crooked, there's craft glue marks all over it and it will likely fall apart very quickly.  (Sorry Sarah).  I included a mix CD with this gift as compensation.

I learned a lot.   For instance; craft glue is a hoax, created by the devil in order to drive people insane - igniting demonic fury, wailing and destructive tantrums.


Good times.

I officially declare the To Do list COMPLETED!

Hey, I even covered the van floor with plastic to protect it from the wet winter.  Such an atypical OCD effort on my part should alone absolve me from having to complete my "I can Blog again, when..." list.

It's my list and I can throw it away if I want.  And blog when I want, okay?

I like having a place to record my thoughts and "adventures" (as Ada would say).

Give, Oh Give to YOU...

(N: This one's for you!)


If you are one of the first three people to comment on this post -

You will win a prize!!!

It could be a cookie. It could be a million dollars...okay it won't be a million dollars.

I got some pretty snazzy (and economically ethical*) stationery a few weeks ago, because I commented on N's blog. I'll try to follow suit and provide the winners with something worth winning.

STIPULATION: I said you'd win a prize. But it is conditional...IF you comment you are agreeing to hold a giveaway yourself. Which is awesome, right? Because it is in the giving that we truly receive the gift, right? ;)

First three comments win!

Right? (why do I keep typing this word?)

Happy Day.
M