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