DIY tutorials.

This is my first one ever. I hope it's gooooood!

So, I've been obsessed with crafting lately. Blame it on insomnia, the need to be busy when Chloe's napping and the house is clean, the fact that I miss my husband. Whatever. It's fun and it rules. My first tutorial is on how to make a sweet scarf our of an old t-shirt. Here goes...

I'm using a few loops from a grey t-shirt to mix it up. :)

If you get confused as to how to do the fish tail braiding, click on this link and check out this video. Minus the hair, it's pretty much the same idea. :)

Fabric flowers...It may take some practice, but once you get the hang of it, it's super easy and you can modify the style. Please click here to watch a tutorial on how to make them.

 

Sweetness! Have fun making your scarf and looking awesome!!

-J

Insomnia Crafting

I can't sleep. So I craft until I pass out.
Healthy?
No.
Creative?
I think so.
Here are some of my finished projects...

This Lamp.

I was at an antique store with a friend a few weeks ago and I found some really sweet skeleton keys. Ever since I was little I've been enthralled with old keys, secret passage ways and Return to Oz (remember the OZ key?). I used ribbon to embellish the dull lamp and then hung my antique finds from the lampshade. That way, I can look at it every day and smile while remembering some fun childhood adventures.

Magnadoodle Chlobot.

What can I say? She's cute and I was bored. Magnadoodles are probably the most fun things to sketch on ever. Plus, she has these little curls that are just too cute.

These pieces of art.

My friend Mandy draws these amazing sketches of cute girlygirls and just to practice, I tried my hand at drawing one of them. Hers are a million times better than the ones I did, and came from her super creative and imaginative brain, but I'm happy with the way they turned out. She has a sweet Etsy shop that you may want to take a look at. She's probably one of the most talented people I know. I wanted to use the sketches that I did in my artwork, so here they are. They both have really special meaning to me and the girls, and it's fun to hang something like that in my house. :)

Never Alone.

So what you can't see, is that this piece is made on the back of a unicorn puzzle that the girls lost all the pieces to. I love to sneak unicorns into my life whenever possible. And I love to re-use things I already have in my house. It saves money and the earth! Yay.

My friend Ash was telling me how much she liked the previous pieces, so I wanted to make her one because she's amazing. I like the message. If you haven't listened to Lady Antebellum's Never Alone, you should. It's a goodie. It's one of my favorite songs to sing at weddings. It was also Chlo's baptism song. Special.

Oooo!! Fall pumpkins!

I got this idea from the super awesome chick who runs the web page A Beautiful Mess. A blog worth checking out if you rule. It was super simple. Puffy paint and some cute baby pumpkins. :)

This pillow.

Crazy awesome, right?!? It should be! It took 7 HOURS!! :) It was amazingly fun and really rewarding when I finished it. My materials? An old pillow from Target that I've had for years, the fabric from my old bed skirt, scissors and a glue gun. I started by making the flower and finished up with the "piping". I really like it. I thin Joe will, too. It's going in his den. :)

This pumpkin made from a book.

And a twig. With some help from my trusty glue gun. It's very fallish and I love it. I got the idea from my girl Nomes, who's doing a 31 day crafting spree. You can check out her awesomeness by clicking here.

Well, I should probably get to sleep. :) I've missed this blog. I think it's time we rekindled our relationship.

-Jen

Walmart Stories.

But first, a photo that has nothing to do with anything that I'm talking about:

Ok, I have a feeling this picture is really going to distract from the story, but I don't care. Whoever knit that hat deserves a major award.

SO. I went to Walmart today (please don't judge me) and, as I was pushing the crappiest cart ever around the store, I noticed that I was getting a few stares from creepy men-not to mention-dirty looks from old women. I know why. My "cute" friend Jenna (pay no attention to the qoutes, unless you're Jenna) let me borrow her little black strapless swimsuit cover up and I was wearing it as a dress. Whatever. I was totally rocking it. I don't usually feel self concious, but in this case I started to think that maybe I should have worn a bit more clothing. But for real! It's been 100 degrees for 3 days now! I was roasting. I don't like getting an ugly heat rash. I despise sweat. I wore the cover up. Whatever. Again. On with the story.

So here I am, pushing the cart with my 3 little girls all hanging on it, when some dude walks past me and almost breaks his neck staring. Blech. I gave him a crusty look. He kept staring and he kept walking...right into a huge display of diapers! As he collided with the countless boxes of diapers and they went crashing to the ground, I couldn't help it. I started laughing histarically and then bolted down the frozen foods isle. I got the heck out of there.

Moral of the story: If you have to be a total Walmart pervert, watch out for the diapers, dude.


-J

THIS.

If you know us, then you know why.

-J&K

RETRACTION!

My apologies.  I should've done more research first...  Please ignore the previous post.

SLAP BRACELETS!

Seriously kids, why did these go out of style in 1991?  CAUSE I'M BRINGING THEM BACK!!  I mean, they're jewelry that SLAPS RIGHT ON!  I can't think of anything better.  You're welcome.

-K

Butterfly Hair.

Who wouldn't want a over a dozen faux insects clipped to their head? Some day soon, I will totally rock this look. Just you wait.

-J

Kitty. Blogging with me. Here!!

YAY!! It's true!! Be on the lookout for some major awesomeness!

BANGS. Specifically, Zooey Daschanel's.

They just are, there's no denying it. I'm pretty sure that everyone with bangs aspires to have her bangs. Case in point:

Zooey hair is number one. I know, I know. Lame Jen pic, BUT you can't deny that the bangs are the most fun! Bangs scream, "Come on, everyone! Let's go to the cafe, sip our non-fat iced white mochas with soy and laugh until we've had our fill of fun!" Right?

And that's my awesome thought for the day. I'm off to get me some Starbucks.

The fact that hilarious things happen to me on a daily basis.

No, I'm serious. Daily! So, I've decided that once a week, I'm going to share a story of total hilariousness. The way I've learned to tell stories is from my dear sweet mother. Which means that they're very detailed. Probably too detailed, but you'll just have to deal with it. Bear with me. It's worth it. :) Disclaimer: I am not responsible if you don't think my stories are funny. This just means that you might not have a sense of humor, in which case, come spend a week with me and you'll get one..

For my first story, I've decided to just put it all out there. If you're a good friend of mine, you know this story all too well, because we've even made inside jokes and actions to it. I'm sorry if you find this offensive-you probably will. I know I did when it happened to me.

A couple years ago I was in Florida with my girl, Kitty,  and we decided that it would be a good day to go to the pool. We were staying in a condo in her parents neighborhood, and it wasn't too far away. Side note-we drove a tricked out golf cart through the neighborhood to the pool and when we got there, a bee got stuck in my hair right next to my ear and I was screaming, "KITTY GET IT OUT, KITTTYYY!!!" And she just swatted the air once and ran away from me. In her defense, I would have done the same thing. And now we laugh about it until we cry, so in a way, I'm really glad that she did that. But if the bee would have stung my face...different story...

Anyways. Back to the story-it was the most beautiful, hot, sunny day in the history of all of Florida. We got into the pool with our ice waters and sat on the edge chatting for a while. We were the only people in the pool until this older woman came in for a dip. (For those of you who know this story-Joe just said, "a DOUBLE dip..."Hahaa!!!!) We smiled at her and went back to our intellectual conversation about why we hate birds-we were in the pool on the edge-I was facing towards the pool and Kitty was facing out of the pool, which meant that I had a view of the older woman who was swimming. Not that I was looking, she was just in view.

In the middle of our convo, I noticed that this woman had stopped swimming and was just standing in the middle of the pool staring out into space. She then proceeded to take her top down, exposing herself and went dipping her breasts one by one, over and over, into the pool!! I looked at her in TOTAL disbelief. And then she looked at me. And kept. Dipping. Are you serious?? Was I really seeing this?? Who would do that? WHY would you do that? How could you think that doing that is ok?? I could write so much more about what was going through my mind, but it's too awkward for me to talk about. So...all the while, Kitty's still talking and I HAD to interrupt her. In the softest voice I could use in my state of shock, I started saying, "Kitty, look behind you. Kitty look. Kitty look now oh my goodness, Kitty. Kitty Please look, oh man, Kitty, oh my goodness..."

I think Kitty knew that looking behind her would inevidably be a very bad idea that would have scarred her for life. She made a very good decision in that moment, and she didn't look. I wish I would have been in her position, because then I wouldn't have this memory of a woman dippng her breasts in and out of the pool while making eye contact with me BURNED into my BRAIN for the rest of my life!

To this day, I still have NO idea why someone would do what this woman did. There is really no reason to do it. To go dipping yourself like that. In a public pool. I can't even imagine that it would feel good. I don't know, I've never tried. Maybe I should.

One of my friends summed up the story with these words that just ring true to my heart.

"Whattaya think a THEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE????"

The End.

An organized junk drawer.

It's on my to-do list. I can go either way. It is so easy to shove all the crap that's on the counter into a drawer and never thing about it again...until you need that one pen, or a calculator, or your phone charger...And then you end up digging through combs, staples, papers that should be in the garbage-and then you stab yourself with a knife that somone threw in there. Danger zone.

And then I think about my amazingly organized friend Deb. She is the best housekeeper, decorator and organizer that I have ever known. She seriously puts Martha Stewart to shame. Just walking into her home is like a breath of fresh air. You'd think that there may be one drawer or cupboard that would just have random crap thrown in it-nope! Her junk drawers can't even be called junk drawers! There is a drawer for pens, scissors, pencils, markers and small pads of paper. Then there's a drawer for brushes, hairbows, de-tangler, bobby pins and hair bands. It gives me the inspiration I need to go out and buy a lable maker(who am I kidding-I totally own a lable maker), put all the little randoms in one place and not freak out whenever I have to go searching for a pen.

And seriously-don't even get me started on how much I want this jewelery display drawer (my birthday is just right around the corner...).

Crafterholic.blogspot.com.

The more time I have, the more I want to do something awesome with that time. Like craft. And sell stuff on Etsy. Because really, what else can a mom of 3 do for a job when her husband is on a special task force team that has to be ready to deploy within 30 minutes of a phone call? In the next few weeks, I am planning on picking some items that I would love to make, as well as have for myself. And then I'll maybe start an Etsy shop. Maybe.

This blog has really inspired me to do something with the sewing machine and creative ideas that I have. Both have just been sitting around and gathering dust. Anyways, there are so many cool ideas and links on this blog, that it's going to take me weeks to go through it all! FUN!! Enjoy!

Cream Cheese Mints.

 

I don't know why, but I've had a craving for these mints that my mom makes for days now. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the fact that I miss my family and these mints come with good memories. Making them is a tradition that's been passed down for generations on my Mom's side of the family. We have mint molds that were my Great Grandmother's, and we still use them. My mom and my sweet Auntie make sure that we have these mints on every special family occasion. Weddings, bridal showers, baby showers, anniversaries, birthdays (but only if your age warrants mints...I'm thinking over 60...). Anyways. They remind me of my Grandma and my Mom and my sister and my wedding and many, many other things. Not to mention the fact that they totally RULE. Cream cheese, sugar, pure peppermint extract (sometimes almond, right mom?) and love. Plus they keep for like, years in the freezer. Awesome.

Knitting and Crocheting.

Oh, how I WISH that I could knit or crochet!!! I'm pretty sure I'd be addicted to making everything from armwarmers to hats to play food to little rainbow yarn crocheted baby toys. I know that it's not that hard to learn how to do it. And I love keeping myself busy. I'm always looking for new things to obsess over, and for now, this is it. I'm determined to learn how to knit. Or crochet. Or both.

Just think of how many awesome things you could do with these skills! Christmas presents? Done. Birthday gift for your bestie? Done. Baby shower gift? DONE. That's it. I'm taking a class.