Out with the old, in with the new...

Hello, there -

just a quick stop by to wish everyone a blessed New Year. I am so grateful of all the blessings our family has enjoyed over the past 12 months. We had continued health, a roof over our heads (which no longer leaks - yay!), meaningful work, enough resources to provide for our family and be able to help others, our furry family members to keep us company and provide entertainment. We shared plenty of laughs and also a few heartaches.
My hope is that this coming year brings great things for all of us and our country, and that those in need will find helping hands and kind hearts around them. Please say a prayer for those far away from home defending our freedoms and honor the memory of those we lost this past year.
To my friends and family, I wish you all the best and love you.
C.

The most wonderful time of the year...

Hello and Merry Christmas to all!!!

I'm hoping that this is a time for all to celebrate not only the birth of our savior, but also family, friends, love, laughter and compassion.
We were able to celebrate with our extended family on Christmas Eve as my hubby had to work today.

I'm just stopping by my itty bitty corner of blogland to post a few pictures of our Christmas along with a few Christmas projects I've been working on.

Here's our tree (this is our first year without the little kid's tree, so now our Veggie Tales ornaments are finding a new home next to my angels and girly things). I'm going for "Something for everyone in the family"... now I just need to come up with some manly man ornaments... hmmm.

Here's us opening some presents:

And of course the Christmas projects

bookmarks, key fobs, bag for Little One

Ipod and cell phone case for Big Guy

and for some cuteness here's the note Little One left for Santa last night:

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Goodnight!!!

Love, C.

The Master Procrastinator strikes again... DUN DUN DAHHH!!!

(insert dramatic music here - hence the DUN DUN DAHHHH!!!... alright need more coffee now)
Your Honor, I plead guilty... wondering if the Twinkie Defense would work here... NAH...

boy, I sure have not been tending to this itty bitty blog in a long time - life has been so full lately. First off, the Lord has blessed me with work, I found a full-time job with our local school district working with Special Education students. It's demanding - both physically and mentally - but it's very rewarding to witness them gaining life skills and learn something new. Also my colleagues and the teacher are outstanding and I am learning so much every day. There are also evening classes to attend, so naturally free time has become an endangered species around here. Most days there is no time left for any creative goings-on as household chores are always on top of the to-do list; I'm "stealing" a half hour here and there for projects to keep my sanity.

The family is adjusting; Dad now gets special morning time with Little One and helps to get her off to school and Mom is home early enough to be the welcoming committee at the afternoon bus (a very loud welcoming committee since the hounddog loves nothing more than to bark at her bus, the other parents waiting there and generally gets way too excited). The kids are also adjusting to their new schools; judging from the grunting and grumbling Dude's first year in High School "doesn't totally suck" and Little One's enjoying her new school as well. Whew! Mornings are pretty much a nuthouse around here. Just directing the bathroom traffic alone makes me want to hide out under the covers (but I'm certain they'd find me right away); meals are either cooked ahead on the weekends (loving my new crock-pot) or we have "bits-and-pieces-night" (directions: check contents of fridge, if food is not sporting fuzzy stuff on top throw it on a plate, microwave and enjoy).

Ah, now on to the good stuff. Fabric and Beads and Buttons, oh my! I have a few photos of some more recent projects. For some reason I never took any pictures of some clothing rehab projects... need to fix that.

A small messenger-typbe bag I use when I take the hound out for a walk (it has a loop inside where I can clip the mail key and a compartment for T.R.E.A.T.S. On bad weather days he sits by the coat rack starting lovingly at the bag and sighs... kid you not).

Next is a gift for a dear friend who just had a new baby girl - hoping to finish the bag today. I better or the girl will be walking before she gets this... Just love how the applique came out, not loving the funky yellow background I used. Sorry.

More flower pins

(plaid scarf was a clothing rehab project... hubby feigned horror after I cut up some of his unwanted clothes for material - hey, there's not much left in my closet that hasn't been worked on!)

And of course Little One's Halloween costume. She went as Astrid from "How to train your dragon". Here's my interpretation of it (translation: here's what I had lying around the house that looked close enough). Only $$ spent were around $3.50 for ax, shield and small skulls.

A.D.D. Moment: had blissfully "forgotten" that Christmas is just a few weeks off, as Master Procrastinator sucessfully put off any sort of project planning. Now I'm in Big DooDoo as there is a) very little time 'til the big day, b) very little crafty time on my horizon and c) suffering a bit of crafter's block... this might be a store-bough Christmas... perish the thought...

Here's to hoping that the next post comes before Easter... just sayin'...

Have a blessed day everyone.

Love, C.

Happy Birthday, Little One

wow, can't believe I haven't posted in a few weeks. We've been able to do a few fun things with the kids and have enjoyed some awesome summer weather around here - even gave the AC window unit a workout.

Yesterday was Little One's 8th birthday; she wanted a Panda theme.

Here's the cake:

Geez, working with the black icing tubes is a real pain in the behind, but I'm pretty happy how it came out.

Here is Little One with some of her presents:

We munched on some yummy sushi for lunch and I made some chinese food for dinner (in honor of the Panda theme). All in all a good birthday for the little lady.

I will have some more projects photographed soon for a summer project roundup posting.

Blessings,

C.

Sad news to share

Hello, all -

I just wanted to share this piece of sad news with everyone. Last Thursday I had to say goodbye to my good friend. She was only with us for a few years.

Our girl Tulah was adopted from a local rescue organization, she was an abused animal (not much info was known, but her behaviour showed that she had been hit). I firmly believe that there is a special place in hell for people that abuse animals. She was a kind soul, fierce protective of the family and a sweetheart to the end. Due to a birth defect (twisted front paw) she was never able to be very active and over the last months it had begun to really slow her down. We knew she was not going to live as long as a healthy dog but it still broke our hearts to see her decline so quickly. Last week we knew for sure she had made a turn for the worse; she could barely get up and was only able to walk a few steps at a time.
We wanted to spare her any further suffering and took her to our vet to be put to sleep. These last few days have been very difficult and it will take some time to get used to this. Our younger dog is still very confused and continues to look for his big doggie sister.

We now include her in our daily prayers and I found some piece in knowing that I was able to be with herat the end to tell her all the things she'll be able to do in heaven - any squirrels up there better look out - trouble's a-comin'!!! We were able to have her ashes spread at Mt. Rainier here in WA (we can see the mountain from our neighborhood).

Goodbye sweetheart, we'll miss you dearly.

Love, C.

Best Frugal Find to date!

Good morning,


just stopping by to post this brag photo showing my best frugal find yet. Little One and I went to Goodwill this past Sunday and I found some great things. Don't know about you but I have a little challenge for myself when shopping at Goodwill. I will only buy the tag sale items of the day, only if I absolutely need to buy an item that I cannot find cheaper any other place will I break down and pay their "retail " price. Some may call me cheap, but I get a great kick out of being able to find things I like and save a bundle.


We ended up with some books, a stuffed lab for Little One (see last post), about 8 pcs of clothing (2 business slacks with their original tags still on, original prices around $45, tag sale prices 99cents!!!). Some of the clothes will be used to be remade, will post pics as soon as I finish some of them.


But the best find of all was in the Linen Department. I have a love for vintage sheets - cabbage roses, shabby-chic colors and prints make me happy. Normally I might find one or two during the tag sales, on Sunday I found 11 sheets and pillow case sets!!! With one exception they were all 99 cents apiece!


Here's proof:

The clothes I will be remaking and the pillow cases are on the left, the big sheets are on the right. I really like the eyelet lace on 2 of them, it will take a bit of time to remove it but I just love giving these little gems a new life!

Well, looks like Teenage Offspring is ready to start on some cleaning chores and needs my help moving some furniture - he is in charge of the floors and of course he only sweeps around the furniture and there are some serious dust bunnies hiding out under the nightstands and the bed in the master bedroom.
Have an awesome summer day - it looks to be a glorious one here in our neck of the woods; hoping for some fun time in the yard later today with the dogs and kiddos.

It's a bird, it's a plane...

Hello, there -

yes, I have not been around much, mostly due to Teenage Offspring's hogging of the main computer with the photo software. Also, the sad state of the house had a lot to do with it, we've been fighting the dust bunnies and have even managed to clean up the children's rooms - that was a scary day!!!

Just wanted to post a few things I've been working on lately.

Here's some snapshots of two Sunday's past: I was in hog's heaven, able to spend almost the entire day sewing. My superfancy work area (alright, I admit, it's just a wooden TV tray that I put into the bedroom so I could watch some TV while working.

One of these days if I am very lucky I might get a craft room, heck I'd even take an empty closet or something other than this high-tech setup (oh, and my sewing machine sits on a low counter in the kitchen). On the upside, I am able to sew, turn on the dishwasher and keep an eye on the food on the stove without having to get up (trying to look on the bright side here).

Of course this is the most important part of getting me through a day-long craft session:

ahhh, come to Momma...

Little One just bought a stuffed black lab at Goodwill (she is crazy about animals and has an extensive collection). She had been hounding me (haha, made a funny!) to sew a collar and leash for her new buddy. Since I have mountains of fabric I decided to make an outfit for "Jackie" the Lab. Little One is a big fan of the movie "Underdog" so here's my take on it. I used an old T-Shirt she no longer wore and some scrap fabric for the coat.

"Jackie" with her doggie shirt, collar and leash

And here is our low-budget special-effects department to show "Underdog" in full flight. Are you not entertained??? Too bad I forgot to set up the fan to have the dogs ears flap in the "breeze". I think that would have finished it off nicely, don't you?

There's no need to fear - Underdog is here!!!

Tomorrow I will post my most impressive Goodwill find to date - vintage sheet goodness. Pics to come ASAP.
Time to put this post to sleep - family movie time (I hear the chips calling my name loud and clear).

Blessings, Christina

Summer Fun

Pics from the 4th and some project stuff.

Hubby with Little One and Cousin P.

Little One and Patriot Dog dressed in style

Big Guy striking a pose - can you say Sugar High???

words fail me...

New Project: bought this sad purple sack at WallyWorld for $3 in hopes of inspiration striking.

Here's what I came up with, Hubby says it's very Donna Reed (will need to check out the old TV show, sometimes it sucks not having grown up here, I don't get some of these references).

Is that really the size of my derriere??? Holy cow! Where are my workout DVD's??? I have them, just don't use 'em... guess it doesn't work like that, huh?

Sorry I really hate having my picture taken and always make a dumb face.

Here's the last project, I came across that somewhere in Blogland (sorry, don't remember where), but I thought it was clever and I needed some inexpensive wall art.

Did you guess it? Yes, I have an art piece made from TP rolls on my living room wall! 'Cause that's how cool I am! NOT! I'm actually thinking of adding some more "flowers" to it, I like the way it looks.

Alright, I have to admit, I tried adding these to my prior post this morning and failed miserably. After attempting to blame it on Blogger I realized that it was Operator Error (no surprise). After some mumbled @#$#% words I tried closing everything down and starting all over again what do I see on my desktop but the small photo upload window from Blogger all by its little lonesome... why it popped up "under" the main window I don't know. Sad to say I'm sure Offspring would have figured this out in a nanosecond...sigh...

Said Offspring is waiting in the wings (actually he is currently bothering the cat who was sleeping peacefully on our bed) so he can get on the computer and kick some bad dude behind... I really need my own computer!!! Hey, Santa, whaddya say??? I've been good... enough...sorta...

C.

Lazy Days of Summer

Can you believe it??? I'm so surprised. Gobsmacked!!! It's here! Summer has found it's way to our neck of the woods!!! Yay! Of course in proper fashion we go from showers and 50 degrees to 95 degrees in 3 days! So the kiddie pool is filled with water (someone please tell my dogs that this is NOT a giant water bowl... just sayin'), the charcoal is waiting for the next piece of meaty goodness to sizzle (yeah, Babe!), the shorts have been dug out of the closet and dusted off (don't get a lot of wear on them around here - sad to note that the capris that looked cute on me last year at Disney World now are seriously tight, the sausage-in-casing look is not working for me...ugh... have to start working out... tomorrow).
Kids have not killed each other yet but they're getting there, grateful that Vacation Bible School is starting on Monday so Little One will be busy for a couple of days.
We're trying to get a bunch of family time in these days, Hubby's been working shorter hours at the hospital (lack of patients) and I've not been able to find a new job yet. But we're staying close to Home Base and making the best of it. We've seen a few summer movies: "Toy Story 3" and "Despicable Me" - great fun! Soapbox moment: Why does it have to cost over $30 for a matinee showing for 4??? Good thing we ate lunch at home before we left, otherwise we'd be completely broke!
Hope everyone had a great 4th of July. We were all together at Grandma's, lots of good eats (have you ever had a Bacon Maple Bar??? Sounds strange but is actually not bad) and we celebrated America's Birthday with a bang, a whole lot of them in fact. The poor hounds had to be doped up with Benadryl to make it through the noise, the cats were even more neurotic than usual.
I was hoping to post some photos, but I'm having issues with Blogger this morning. Will try to post photos later.

The craft table looks very sad these days. Several unfinished projects are abandoned mixed in with scribbled notes and drawings of new ideas. I just haven't been inspired this last week or two. There are two things finished and I will post photos as soon as I can get it to work.

Enjoy these summer days.
C.

Panda Dress

Just wanted to start showing off my summer projects with Little One's Panda Dress. SHE LOVES PANDAS. A LOT. So of course she had requested I make her a Panda Dress this summer. So this morning I cut up a few T-Shirts from my stash and came up with this for my girly girl:

Little One with her best pal Bamboo enjoying the sun in the backyard (sorry the dress appears to be crooked but it's not, she's just a major wiggleworm).

Am I Supermom or what???

Now I am attempting to add some length to a purple summer dress I found at WallyWorld for about $3, it's one of those short dresses that shows entirely too much leg (especially the out-of-shape pasty kind I have). Hopefully it will improve greatly once I'm done with it.

Well I better finish this, have Offspring waiting in the wings itching to blow up some bad dudes on the computer...

Have a blessed day, everyone.

Happy Father's Day!

Wishing all the dad's a Happy Father's Day out there - you do an awful lot and we think the world of you. To all the military dads like my hubby, you often miss months and years in your children's lives; we are so grateful for everything you put up with and sacrifice.

In keeping with my tradition of very manly Father's Day Cards (from beer bottle cap "flower" arrangements to some potty humor inspired cards) here's this year's edition combining two things I love: flowery things and duct tape (big fan of Red Green on PBS). So what better way to honor Warrior Man than to give him this card:

I love the sound of ripping duct tape!

Also I made some wall art for a big dead space in the living room. I had bought some small canvases with seriously cheesy "art" on it at Dollar Tree (my fave) and finally searched through my mountain of scrapbook paper to find just the right one (holy cow there is a lot of paper, I seriously need to get off my derriere and get some more albums worked on...).

I tried to use the staple gun but switched to using duct tape early on (the staple gun and I have a history and not a pretty one, better to leave it alone as we are running low on band-aids).

Here's the before and after:

As I was hanging these babies up I noticed how sad the paint job in the living room is... high time for another one. I had chosen this shade of yellow to brighten the space up but throughout most of the day you feel like you live inside an Easter Egg (that's what you get for not trying the color out ON your wall first). The only thing that's holding me back is the fact that the living room, entry, dining room and kitchen are part of the same open space - that's a lot of painting... I'm sure the offspring would just LOVE to help with that job... NOT. I don't want to take the risk of arming them with paint brushes and rollers, someone could loose an eye or one of the animals could get a new look!!!

Now that offspring are out of school and I'm home for a while there are high hopes of getting loads of projects done around here - painting the outside of the house moss green with cream trim (if this rain ever stops, the next person telling me that's why WA is so green better duck!), some work on fence to protect veggie garden from curious dogs, some kind of patio or deck area and some other upkeep projects. I have an evergrowing list of projects that need to be worked on (rehab of some clothes for me and Little One), sewing projects (chair covers/curtains etc) and hopefully there'll be time left for some new bag designs. I would love to start listing some of this stuff on Etsy but seem to be giving items out as gifts as soon as they're done.

Better finish for now, I still need to wrap hubby's gift before he gets home.

Have a blessed Sunday, everyone.

Sweet Ruffle Purse and more Crafty Goodness

Ahh, it is so lovely to have the sewing machine back in service!!! It purrs like a kitten and I have been a busy bee finishing up the teacher's gifts before school gets out next week.

I have to make a confession: I love love love love girly flowery ruffly lacy things... anyone who knows me is probably rolling on the floor laughing by now. Seriously, this practical mom has an obsession with sweet things and shabby chic style (in reality our place is a bit country and a lot shabby - thanks to offspring and critters). But I try to practice the art of restraint so poor hubby (WarriorMan) and Dude (GuitarHeroMan) are not living in the Land Of Precious all over the house. So there's only a sprinkling of cabbage rose prints and ruffles around. But I hoard any lovely fabrics/papers/etc I can find until I come up with a good project. I'm excited to have one off my to-do list. I finally figured out a use for this beautiful flower fabric I have had for a VERY long time (another great curtain find at Goodwill, sadly not big enough for a large project). I have been ogling these ruffly and flower decorated bags on some great craft blogs and decided to take a stab at it. I'm not confident to try putting in a zipper, but some velcro will do the job just nicely.

Here's some pictures of the last few craft-filled days.

First, get a load of this ruffly beauty. I just love the colors and am pretty proud of how it came out.

This will be my new purse... I'll be the coolest mom in the frozen food isle!!!

Here are the teacher gifts I made for Little One (both for her classroom teacher and dance teachers).

More Cheese, please! & Tropical Flower (fully sewn by hand)

Groovy Blossom & "Rubber Chicken" Bag (Little One called it that)

So much for today. I better finish up so WarriorMan can get on the computer when he gets home.

Blessings. C.

Much to do

Oh, sorry, forgetting my manners. Hope all has been well, haven't felt like blogging much lately. We're trying to finish up the school year, loads of teacher gifts in the works - had to be put on hold for a bit while sewing machine is at the shop this week (made funny noise and skipped stitches, so grateful that it was just a minor adjustment and the nice guy at the shop is not charging me anything for it - I was horrified to hear that the regular service without any repairs runs at about $90!!!). I'll get to pick my baby up tomorrow afternoon just in time to hit the ground running.

I spent Memorial Day weekend at home sewing 25 costumes for Little One's school play (luckily they only needed costume pieces sewn, but 25 spiders makes for a whole lot of legs to cut and sew!!!) Thanks to sewing machine and lots of coffee it was accomplished well in advance. Offspring were off with grandparents camping (they "roughed" it in a comfy cabin at the campground) and hubby was at work. So me by my lonesome, some great tunes on my Ipod, the snoozing hounds and snoring kitties and let's not forget the never-ending RAIN... RAIN... oh did I mention the RAIN!!! I am so sick of this RAIN! We had a beautiful day yesterday for once, but of course I was tied up with some goings-on at church until the late afternoon and was too tuckered out after to be out and enjoy it. Today when there is extra time it RAINS!!! No fair! as Little One would say.

Sorry, sidetracked yet again... back to subject. Kids are trying to fit all sorts of class parties etc into these last few days; new schools for both next year (High School for Dude and different Elementary School for Little One). For me, a bummer to start off the summer season; have a layoff coming this month and side gig was also cut... hopefully will be able to find something after the summer - fingers crossed and prayer candles burning...

But on to fun stuff: pictures.

Pictures of spider legs and "helpful" cat - WildMan is battling the MonsterSpider, dragged a few of them around the house when I wasn't looking and all around felt very proud of himself. Feloneous Feline (man I hope I spelled that right).

Here's the general madness during Little One's school play.

Quick Mom Rant of the Day: Folks, do me a favor and SIT THE HELL DOWN!!! Sorry for the uppercase shouting, but it has to be said... see the general suckiness of the photo??? Know why??? Because of the Ubermoms clogging up the isles in the auditorium continously taking pictures through the whole play while we mere mortals can't even get 2-3 decent photos of offspring for bragging rights and scrapbooks!!! Here's how it should be: right before your precious child is on stage you get into position taking care not to block out the sun for the rest of us, take your pictures and return to your seat. Don't park your rear permanently in the middle of everything living out your papparazzi dream... just sayin'. And please, if other parents ask you to please not block the view for everyone - how about giving it a try??? Be considerate, please.

Oh, same goes for church too. It's very hard to be reverend and prayerful when you can neither see nor hear due to cameras clicking and general madness of people trying to get the best shot.

Get it? Got it? Good!

Alright, soap box is being put away again. Whew!

Here's Little One on her big day at church:

No new projects to show off right now, a few things in the works, will hopefully be ready within the week.

Have a blessed Sunday.

The Obsession continues

Have sneaking suspicion that sewing these little bags is a lot like potato chips - you can't have just one! Here's the new batch of lovelies - looky here:

Scotties in Love

Scotties on Parade

Night Owl

How slow can you go?

Stay tuned for more sewing loveliness.

God bless, Christina

Tea Rose Home: Tea Rose Home Link Party No. 7!#links#links

Tea Rose Home: Tea Rose Home Link Party No. 7!#links#links

I participated in the Link Party at this great blog. Just love her creativity and great eye for color!

Can you ever have enough purses???

Quick answer: NO !!!

I'm so excited, here are my first two beauties all done. The flower pins are removable, in case you're looking for some pretties to wear. They were given away as birthday presents this weekend.

Have a look. I think they're b-e-a-utiful.

Happy Monday,

Tina

Happy Birthday to Me!

another year older, hopefully a bit wiser...

Surprisingly the whole family was in one place this year, dad's been away for military duty a lot over the past few years. So we try and be a bit flexible when birthdays come around. Same with the presents. I picked my presents from the kids out at the craft store last weekend (yay for bigger craft stash) and hubby took me to buy new clothes this week (can you believe it, he MADE me buy a whole bunch of them, what a sweetie!).

A quiet day yesterday (at least quiet in my book), some munching on birthday cake (oh, yeah, baby!!!), some craft time (yay!), some TV time (yay!), and some family time (extra loud YAY!). We went to a neighborhood Chinese restaurant for dinner (yum) celebrating both mine and Big Guy's birthday (mine on the 7th and his tomorrow); we decided to get our fave ice cream after dinner - don't think we're nuts but we went to Costco! I L.O.V.E. vanilla soft serve ice cream (sorry, no funny business in the ice cream department here) and Big Guy is a fan of their yumminess as well.

So to cement my status as just a bit nuttier than average we celebrated my birthday by picking up a few groceries and stuffing our faces with ice cream ... 'nuff said.

More crafty stuff going on today (birthday presents in the making, pics to follow soon), BBQ at in-laws tomorrow where we are celebrating the 4 birthdays this month and Mother's Day in one day (I am convinced I would be the size of the Michelin Man if I had to eat 4 birthday cakes in the span of 3 weeks).

Geez, all this writing about birthday cakes... now I'm hungry!!! There is some Black Forest Cake with whipped cream waiting on me in the fridge... I gotta go!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommys out there, it's a tough job with tougher hours, but being paid in hugs and kisses is pretty cool!!!

Tina

Flowers, flowers everywhere

at least inside (sad state of backyard notwithstanding... I mean REALLY sad - trying to convince myself that dandelions are not a weed but a pretty flower... might need to think about scheduling a catscan).


Here are some flower pins I worked on last night and this morning (another early morning thanks to Uncle Sam). I wasn't sure if I liked making these babies, but they're fun to make and a great way to use up some quilt squares from projects off my "when I get a chance" list because let's be realistic when I Do get a chance to work on this stuff I'll be too old and frail to hold a needle!



There are some fleece flowers and scrap fabric ones and I love them all - let's not forget the little yo-yo flowers! Now that's something I can throw in my Busy Bag and work on whenever I get a chance (Little One's dance class or while waiting for all sorts of appointments). Two of them were given away as thank-you gifts for Sunday School teachers for today's last class of the year (does that mean summer is coming... me and my pasty flabbiness in a swimsuit... eewww); Little One snagged the yellow pin and I took the pink one (just love the fabric with the cherries and raspberries). The rest will go into my stash and hopefully be posted on Etsy in a few days.






Here they are:















I told Little One I needed one for each day of the year, but she gave me the "my mom has totally lost her last marble" look and said "No way". ... funsucker! Maybe I'll make one for each day of the week...hmmmm



Whadda ya think?



Oh, just to restate the obvious, photography is NOT my strong suit, but I'm working on it. At least these pics don't have a nice view of the laundry or other unsightly stuff in it - yay for me!

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday. I'm off to let the barking fools (Main Dog and Back-up Dog) back in the house now that they have sufficiently made a nuisance of themselves outside plus I saw some yummy puff pastry cookies and my beloved coffe mug out in the kitchen... need to reward myself for not abandoning whiny offspring at the craftstore earlier ("Can we GO now???).

Tina