the big reveal!

I know you have been waiting so patiently, dear readers, for the big craft surprise! Well, you will have to wait no longer! Here's the scoopity scoop...

I decided to make multi-purpose PLACE MATS!! (WOW!! nerd alert!) I am having the family over for Valentine's Day and decided to make place mats as part of the table decoration since my tables tend to look quite bare at celebrations. So, I also thought I could make them more useful by backing them with a different holiday themed material so I can use them twice a year instead of once a year. So, I figured I might be doing Halloween for a little while since Thanksgiving is so close to John's birthday and Christmas is quickly taken up my mom and Al. So, my creative little brain headed off to JoAnn's and found some cute Valetine's Day and Halloween (60% off too!) fabric.

Part of my Christmas present to Brad was a date-a-week jar where I put in slips of paper with things we can do together. I was getting super annoyed with us sitting on the couch watching tv and not doing anything. So now, every Sunday we pull out a slip and we have a planned activity for that week! Most of them are things we can do at home for free, or things that are super cheap...and I love it! Maybe I made that present more for me than for him. But, I digress. Luckily for me, last week was 'do a crafty project together'! So, Brad helped me cut, de-pin, and flip inside-out the place mats while I took care of the actual sewing part. He was doing this while watching some war movie, so he wasn't totally girly that night!




And after million hours (making 15 of these bad boys was not really fun! After one, I was kind of regretting this little project!), this is how they turned out...







Not too shabby. They certainly aren't fancy, but will bring a little color to our Valentine's pizza dinner! They were VERY easy to make, just tedious and slightly boring.

The big news now is that I applied to have a craft booth at a craft fair in Keller with one of my friends. Hopefully we get accepted because I am excited to get it all organized and see how it turns out!

And because mom will be upset if she doesn't see a pic of John, here is one from last night when we came home from the mall. He had worn himself out playing in the play area and running around like a crazy man and fell asleep in the car. I carried him inside and he was still sleeping as we tried to change his diaper! That is one tired little boy! Wish us luck as he gets tubes put in his ears tomorrow! I bet he will be talking in no time now. :)

Keepin' Up with the Crafts!

Well, due to some sick people in the family, (why is it that Brad never gets sick with us?!?!), I didn't keep up with my workouts last week. Hopefully this week is better! But I DID make another craft today, so that has to help balance out my resolutions. Right? RIGHT?!?!?

I made a baby blanket today for one of John's friends who is turning one. Her monster-themed party is Saturday and I found really cute monster fabric when reading through the million blogs on my reader. So I immediately headed over to JoAnn's and bought some supplies. Even though I have made a blanket before, I am considering this a 'new' craft since I haven't used ric rac before, much less HUGE ric rac! I combined some ideas I saw online and the tag blankets I made to make a cute monster blanket for Miss Meadow! It isn't quite as big as I would have liked, but it is a good size for Meadow to use as a comfy blanket when she is relaxing or watching tv. Well, I guess good parents don't let their one year-olds watch tv...hmmm...


So, without keeping you on the edge of your seats any longer, here is my THIRD new craft for the year 2010!!!








Even though I posted this before, I PROMISE I am making some cute a Valentine's double-duty craft. That may be not for another week or so, but I am hoping that turns out cute! Keeping my fingers crossed....

Thank You Cards...made from stuff around the house!

Lately I have been 'going green' when it comes to cards. 'Going green' is also code for 'too lazy (and cheap) to go to the store so I need to make something from what I already have at home'. For whatever reason, it saves me money and I finally use the stuff that has been piling up in my closet and dining room! Bonus!!

I needed Christmas thank-you cards and I kept forgetting to buy them when I was out. So I figured I would just make them. A couple years ago I bought Christmas party invitations that I saw on sale super cheap thinking the I would need them for a cheerleading party the following year. Well, they ended up in the attic and I never used them. I found them this year when I was packing up the Christmas decorations and put them in my crafting area, thinking I could surely find a way to use them one day. That day has arrived!!!!


I started with this...



...and since the design at the bottom of the card was cute, I just typed up thank you notes on coordinating cardstock, glued it together, and I ended up with...



...THANK YOU CARDS!! (ummm...hi blogger, why are you rotating my pictures randomly? My sincerest apologies to my loyal readers!!) I stopped just short of adding ribbons and glitter. But only because I forgot to factor in the ribbon idea when I printed out the notes and I didn't have glitter within arms reach (remember, I said I was lazy!).

I am hoping that I can make Miss Meadow's birthday present on Monday since I have the day off from work. We will see if I am actually motivated to follow through with that during John's nap! So, stay tuned...

Resolutions Check-up

Well, we are 9 days into the new year and I am still on track with my resolutions. I worked out twice last week...CHECK. We are keeping up with the budget...CHECK. Making new crafts...CHECK CHECK! Here are the projects I worked on this week:

Bella's cupcake outfit: I saw a cupcake outfit online and it was super cute! So my first new craft of the year was to make it for Bella's first birthday. My friend came over one night and we had a little sewing party. She made the CUTEST Valentine's Day shirt for her daughter, and I made the skirt for Bella's outfit. It turned out a little shirt (or ALOT short), and maybe not as full as I would have liked, but still it is really cute. A couple days later, when school was cancelled for possible ice (HORRIBLE decision!) I made the cupcake applique while John was taking a nap. The whole project took about 2 hours, not including shopping time.







Burp Cloths : I have a baby shower to go to in a couple weeks, so I decide I would give handmade presents. Part of their presents will be custom burp cloths. (I can say 'custom' right?!?! Sounds fancier!) I used some of my scrap material for the fronts and backed it with chenile. This was also a really great way to use some of my scrap material...and it gives me a perfect excuse to buy more material soon! Too bad I have used my 'craft' budget money for the next two months. :) The girl version ended up being a little fancier than the boy version. I didn't have big enough pink pieces so I had to extend them with coordinating material. It turned out cute and I really hope my friends like them! I like that they aren't the boring white cloths and they are a little smaller than the ones I have, so they will fit nicely in a diaper bag. Plus, babies prefer to spit up on something pretty...it is a proven fact. This project took about 2 or 2.5 hours which isn't bad considering I made 6 burp cloths.









My next project will be Valentine's Day placemats for the pizza lunch we are having. They will be double-duty placements, so be sure to check back to see how they turn out!

New Year's Resolutions

Here are my resolutions for the year...in writing....so I can't get out of them...

1. Exercise! I will excercise at least twice a week which may seem like nothing to some people, but it is really hard to fit when you have a baby (is he really a baby anymore? Boo.) and are SUPER tired from growing a baby. And seriously, when it is 7:00 at night, it is hard to get motivated to head back out to the gym. For those of you who say 'workout in the morning', ummm...I already get up at 5:30 so being at the gym by 4:30 so I can get back by the time Brad leaves for work simply will. never. happen. ever.

2. Craft it up! I will make at least one new craft a month and make a table cover playhouse for John. (like this one !) I spend so much time looking at craft tutorials online and then I never actually make them. My first one is a cute present for Bella that I am working on Tuesday with a friend. Fun!

3. Budget! We are sticking to our budget. We took one month where we lived just on Brad's salary and it was pretty easy. So, we are going back to that so we can save up some money for when I am not working anymore. It will be nice because then I won't be eating fast food all the time now!