getting crafty with it

I sewed a lot before Christmas. I sewed a lot on Christmas Eve. My sewing machine hasn't seen the likes of me ever since. We needed a break from each other. Last week I sewed something for Carter for his birthday. I guess that means we made up ~ my sewing machine and me.

I'm going to be in two craft fairs soon ~ one in March and another in April. That means I've got to get my crafting in gear and make some fresh inventory.

So last night I made an apron using this tutorial that I've been wanting to try.

It went quickly and was pretty easy. I'm just loving this fabric.

I think I'm going to try the same apron with different fabric combinations. 

The card exchange was this past week. 

I made some square thank you cards. The card stock, patterned paper, ribbon, and stamps came from my new favorite place online, Papertrey Ink. 

I love their product! If you stamp or scrapbook, you've got to try their stuff. There are so many cute stamps to choose from. You will have a hard time deciding. 

I also made a pretty simple birthday card. 

Oh, I think I hear some fabric calling my name just about now. See you later.

ode to joy

Greg went grocery shopping with me today. He's just sweet like that. As we were standing in the check out line, Greg pointed out that we got the grumpy checker. Yes, indeed we did. Her face is in a permanent frown. She looks like if she has to check out another customer she just might vanish from exasperation. 

When I got up to the pay area, she didn't even say hello or ask me how I'm doing. So I just watched the tab on my groceries go up and up and up. Then I glanced down and noticed her name tag. Ironically, her name is Joy. Boy, her parents had that all wrong!

In other grocery shopping news, if you go grocery shopping after church, but before you eat lunch, stuff like this is likely to find its way into your cart.

My verdict? The mozarella sticks ones are gross. The dill pickle ones are interesting. A little goes a long way there. Heather will love them. The mexican layered dip ones are pretty good.

Don't grocery shop on an empty stomach.

too big?

I was going to buy this rooster for our kitchen. But then, I wasn't so sure it would fit on top of the fridge! 

Plus, I think the price was a little out of my league. 

something wrong

A few months ago, I bought these lamps for the sofa table. I found them on sale plus buy one get the other half off. To sweeten the deal, I had a gift card. The shopping gods were smiling down on me that day. Oh, I was giddy! I also got a new purse with the same gift card (and on sale). We'll talk about my addiction love for purses on another day.

These lamps are great! I love the way the detail on the lamp repeats the detail in the leaves of the pineapple. I love the satiny gold shades.

Ready for the something wrong? Now remember, I've had these lamps for a few months now. The other day, Greg told me to look carefully at the finials.

See that? Different!

I examined the rest of the lamps to see if in my sale-induced shopping stupor I bought two different lamps. Nope. Just the finials are different.

it was a simple request

For her birthday, Aunt Wendy and Grandma & Papa gave Heather Disney Dollars so she could pick out her own present at Disneyland. She was thrilled at the prospect. She announced that her first purchase would be a big pickle. We reminded her that her dollars would buy much more than a pickle. We'd even buy her the pickle. But she was determined that she should to buy herself a pickle.

Ah, easier said than done! We spied a bucket of pickles just after breakfast near the Jungle Cruise. She was ready to pounce! We steered her away from the bucket because it was right after breakfast and she had declared already that her pancakes filled her up. Imagine that combo ~ Mickey Mouse pancakes & a pickle ~ slogging around in her little belly.

Little did we know that we should have let her have the pickle! It was raining that day, so all attempts to find the little fruit stands that sell the pickles later on were futile. We looked and looked and asked and asked. She talked about that pickle. She salivated at the idea of the pickle. She just wanted a pickle.

Well into the evening, when it was raining no more, we found a bucket of pickles. Hallelujah! The angels began to sing as Heather paid the $2.75, using her Disney Dollars, for that crunchy, juicy pickle!

It was such a simple request ~ one that almost became impossible to fulfill.

Coincidentally, that bucket of pickles? It was the same place where we first saw them earlier that morning.

spring fever

We've been having a little bit of spring fever around here. For the past two weekends we have been spending all waking hours spring cleaning. Maybe I should say deep cleaning instead. In our room, instead of just vacuuming, we pulled the mattress off the bed and vacuumed underneath. A whole village of dust bunnies was demolished. We did pause for a moment of silence. Or maybe that was a moment of reverent glee over having a dust free under bed.

In the living room, we have a sofa table on the stairwell wall. The dried-flower-and-stick arrangement has been above it since we moved to this house 6 years ago. The arrangement was over the sofa table at our old home as well. Creatures of habit? Maybe. 

While I do like it and there's certainly nothing wrong with it, I'm getting a little bored of it. 

This whole area could use a little freshening up. I've never been a master at the table vignette. I have pictures in my mind of how I want something to look, but I don't usually spend the money to achieve that picture. The Nester says to shop your house. The thing is, I don't always swoop up little goodies at the store to have around the house to "shop." I'm working on it.

Back to the floral thingy. 

I've been admiring the beauty and simplicity of barn stars for a while now. I love how they can be painted to fit in just about any decor. I see them in magazines, on blogs, and in the stores. The big ones? They're pricey! So I just keep admiring.

Just before Christmas, I found a large barn star ~ on sale! It was only $15. I couldn't believe it! I told Greg I had to have it. Being the obliging husband to his wife's every whim (mostly) he agreed. I do know, however, that he might have been thinking that I could be off my rocker. Where would we put that thing? Originally, I thought about putting it in the front room, but as I felt ho hum about the floral thing, I knew this was the perfect place.

Now the star has a home. What do you think?

The star seemed very huge in the box. Now that it's on the wall, it seems much smaller. I'm thinking it might be a little lonely there, though. Maybe a star friend or two would be nice as well. I'm keeping my eyes open!

Now here's a challenge for you ~ there's something wrong in these pictures (besides the vacuum cleaner cord!). Can you find it? Stay tuned ~ I'll tell you later.