I need YOU!

I need your opinion!

I got these cutie little jars at the thrift store the other day. I have no idea what to use them for, I just knew they were too spectacular to pass up.
What would YOU use them for?

Hello February

January 2010 is gone, and February is here. I love the end of the month when I get to wipe my calendar clean. I get satisfaction from wiping away all the chores that I had to do, and getting to remember all the play dates and fun activities. But then I get snapped back into reality when I have to fill in the agenda for February. Ugh it's already so full and we haven't even begun.

The best event of January 2010 Celebrating my 30th Birthday with a Girls Getaway!

Idea Board w/ Mod Podge Cereal Cans!

I have been working on revamping my crafting room and making it more useful and appealing. I have had this mirror in storage for about 3 years.
It used to hang in my daughters nursery. It lovingly held binkies, toys and hair clips for us.
But now it is MINE!I covered the frame in some lovely Amy Butler fabric.

Exchanged the mirror for a piece of fabric covered cork.
Covered some old cereal tins with fabric, Mod Podged over them and hung them.

So completely useful and pretty.

As soon and my son finishes some more baby cereal, I will have more tins to hang.
I adore making stuff out of garbage!

chili + CUMIN!

Anybody want a little extra cumin in their chili?

Too much chatter for talk

Dear Talk Radio Shows, I want to thank you for your years of service to me during my morning commute to work. I loved you so much. You made me laugh, feel inspired, and I looked forward to our daily time together. However the times are a changin'. I can no longer get a moments worth of silence into my day and I have come to loath your very existence. I now have a 4yr old who feels the need to chatter constantly. I have too much chatter in my life for talk. When the two of you are going on and on at the same time I think my head might explode. So, Talk Radio Shows,,, I have to say goodbye. Maybe I will catch up with you in the future. For now I am going to hang onto my sanity and listen to just the chatter, and perhaps a little background music. Oh and if you could tell your friend Radio Commercial to quiet down, that would be spectacular. Much Love, Shelly

Thoughts and Theories

1. For every hour you are up earlier then usual, you get an extra cup of coffee. 2. Poop can be washed off. 3. It's okay to treat yourself once in awhile. 4. You can always make more money, and lose more weight, so enjoy life today. 5. I'll sleep when I'm dead, for now I'm going to live life to the fullest! 6. I only have as much strength as God gives me,,,,I have more strength then I realize. 7. If you want to have more friends, you have to stick your neck out. 8. Being reliable is respect in it's purest form. 9. Mac & Cheese and Hot dogs,,,, Great lunch. 10. Learn to make biscuits, sew on a button, and build a fire. 11. Your children will wake up a little older tomorrow, relish every moment of TODAY. 12. Your home is only as happy as the grumpiest person it in,,,,don't be the grump. 13. If PBS would put a news crawl on the screen I would be more aware of current world events 14. Anniversary, Birthday, & Valentines Day's Cards to and from your spouse should be presented before breakfast.

Do you have a Button?

Lately it seems like everything in my daughters world is a level 5 EMERGENCY worthy of a complete melt down. I'm talking simple everyday things. Here are a few example of phrases I am hoping to change:

"I don't have a drink, waa"................"May I please have a drink?" "I can't find the toy waa"........................"Can you please help me?" "I don't have a snack waa!"..............."May I please have a snack?" "Harry STOP IT, NO waa" ...."Can you please make Harry stop?" I decided to make a Happy/Grumpy Button. Basically every time she asks me a question/whines for something, I'm going to pull out the button. If she has not asked politely, she will be shown the Grumpy face and be allowed to ask her question again, using her happy face. Hopefully after a few days she will only get the happy faces. Find two random pieces of paper Trace and cut our circles in you size preference Draw your Happy and Grumpy faces Sandwich an old magnet piece in between Cover with clear packing tape on both sides and trim VOILA! Your done!

Wishing you a peaceful home, -S

Wrapping my body in sunshine!

I must be craving springtime because lately I can't get enough yellow in my life. I have ridiculous amounts of respect for anyone who can live in the NW. I can't stand dreary days, I NEED MY SUNSHINE! Since it has been foggy and dreary here in Kansas, I'm wrapping my body in anything that makes me think of sunshine.

Romantic Ruffle Shirt

Here is where I found the Tutorial I based my design off of.

Charlie and Lola Hair Clips!!!

30 wishes for my 30th

I turn 30 is just 3 short days, For my Birthday, I wish: 1: The bag boy at the grocery store would NOT put all my produce in ONE sack. 2: For a nite out, with a purse big enough to only hold the essentials (no goldfish, diapers, or toys allowed) 3: Certain hockey equipment would be thrown away. 4: The walls would finish painting themselves 5: My kids would sleep past 5:15am 6: The laundry would do its self 7: I could get a pedicure 8: I could have lunch with Melissa 9: I had quilters pins 10: My kids would eat a big pile of veggies 11: For a giant stack of vintage sheets 12: Emma's desk would sand it's self down 13: I could go just one day without seeing a stupid Spangles commercial 14: All sinful foods would magically be fat free 15: My husband could find his dream job 16: We had a fence 17: I could eat potato Ole's 18: Nobody could post stupid forwards on their facebook pages 19; My Etsy shop would get a sale 20: I could go antique/flea market shopping 21: My sewing machine would never jam 22: That my gas tank was full 23: For knitted hand/wrist warmers 24: I was attending a giant surprise party in my honor,,,I wish to not be the one to plan it either 25: Harry would say "Momma" 26: For a big pile of antique buttons 27: For a nanny 28: I had a lamp for my sewing room 29: I had no late fees at the library 30: I was spending my 30th Birthday on an island with palm trees, sunshine, and margaritas!

A bit out of my league

The holidays are whizzing by faster and faster every year. Birthdays are coming and going. Oh how I feel as though I'm about to be out smarted by my children. Emma is getting to be quit the pro at using my computer and I can't help but feel that in the very near future I will be asking for her assistance with technology. I think I'm on the verge of being out of my league.

squeezing joy

As this year is coming to a close, I realize how much time I have wasted having pity parties for myself (mostly just in my head, but for those few friends who I have vented on, THANK YOU, you saved me from insanity)! While not all the problems in my life were cause by my personal decisions, some were, and I hope to remember and learn from those choices because I can't change the past. However, I can choose how my heart will react and I can choose to be joyful, I can teach my children to be joyful in all things. In the last few months I have been reminded (several times) of the hardships and joys that Job faced in his life, it always puts my life in perspective, so thanks Lord, thanks for making Job's life a little crappy too at times. For now I'm going to squeeze every bit of joy out of life that I can. I'm going to keep my eyes focus on God's future blessings and try to remember that this moment in time may be a blessing in disguise. I'm going to embrace my family, relish in my children's innocence, and savor every sweet memory.

JOY TO THE WORLD, THE LORD IS COME!

Baby it's cold outside

Baby it's cold outside,,,,and apparently INSIDE too!

Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer PARTY!

Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer was on TV last night. I loved watching it when I was a child and wanted the same thing for my kiddos. So, I made a party of the whole thing. We wore Christmas PJ's, made Hot Cocoa Ice cream sundae's, and snuggled on the couch. Oh I was in heaven!

Sorry for all the extra photos, tis the season!

Single or Alligator

I have been cooking a lot lately, which means I have have been doing massive amounts of dishes. When I took my wedding ring off to roll out some dough the other day, this is what I found. My finger was red and dried out. OUCH! It hurts every time I put water on it. I haven't been wearing my rings for 3 days, my finger still doesn't feel better and now I just feel naked. I think I would prefer to be in public naked with my rings, errr umm maybe not. I'm not sure if God wants me to be single or just part alligator.

Harry walks!

Harry Walks! At 16months old, it's about time!

Warm up your Winter

I recently wanted to try my hand at making a cute Coffee Cup Cuff. It was so easy, and turned out perfect on the first try. Since I currently don't have the budget to frequent Starbucks, I had to find a coffee lover to give this little cuff a good home. (It has been sent to my mother-in-law. I challenge anyone of God's green earth to find someone who loves their coffee as much as she does.)

I wanted to dress it up a bit so I scooted over to Starbucks and picked up a gift card, and a cup to tie it all together. I think it turned out to be a great idea for a quick holiday gift. Perfect for moms, teachers, co-workers, friends,,,, just about anyone. Tutorial from House on a Hill Road

I also discovered they work great on cold cups! I love plastic cups but hate the sweat, so thank you coffee Cup Cuff. I will be making lots of these for hot summer days!

Camera Stats make me feel sick

I feel sick to my tummy everyday I look at my computer. It sits on my floor in pieces as a grave stone for all my lovely pictures. Currently I have no idea if we will be able to recover my photos. My pictures are my life literally. Weddings, births, birthdays, first steps, vacations,,,, the list of irreplaceable photos goes on, and on,,,,,, and on.

"Camera Stats" Years we have owned a digital camera: 4 Number of new cameras since the first: 4 New Photo editing programs purchased: 3 External Hard drives for storage: 2 Pictures taken : over 26,000 Pictures printed : less then 400 Pictures shared with family : under 800 Number of Brands I have used: two Number of Online photo sites I belong to: 5 Number of computes crashed: 1 Number of hard drives crashed: 1 Number of pictures I may never get back :26,000

Block Bag SCARE

My daughter came to me this morning coughing and gagging, because her block bag was around her NECK! EEEk I freaked out. I was less then 15 feet from her and this happened. I immediately cut the draw string out and threw it in the trash! I could have just dumped the blocks into the toy box, but what fun is that,,,,so I made her a new block bag, with NO DRAW STRING! An easy fix would have been to just thread some elastic through the existing casing, but if I was going to change it, I wanted it to be pretty. Plus my daughter loves toting them around by the before mentioned drawstring, so I knew I needed a handle. Annnnyywho, here is what I came up with. I just laid out the existing bag and made a case for it, a Velcro closure, and nice SHORT and wide strap.

From one momma to another

Please, if you have a bag like this, take out the drawstring!

Ghost Toast

I put a status on my facebook the other day about Ghost Toast. The response was unanimous and LOUD. Everyone wanted to know what Ghost Toast was. Say WHA??? I thought everyone ate this stuff. Turns out I had a really creative Momma growing up and she made the everyday a holiday. Around Halloween we would have this treat for breakfast. I was so excited to give it to my daughter for the first time. I love passing my childhood traditions on to my kids. So, here's what Ghost Toast is all about. It's buttered toast with powdered sugar on top, and chocolate chips for the eyes.

So make the everyday a holiday with this special treat!

Baby Legs

I made my very first pair of Leggies today!

I love them and they were so easy to make. But, can we please stop pretending these are anything other then Leg Warmers. I watch my daughter dance around in them, and in my head I hear Olivia singing "let's get physical, physical....." Hope you find time to make some this fall. Here is the TUTORIAL I used.

Princess leia

Okay so my daughter has never seen Star Wars or anything even close. However she must be honing her Princess Leia Persona today. She demanded braids that were tucked under for her hair do. Then to make matters worse, when I tried to put pink bows in her hair to match her pink shirt, she flipped out and demanded her sparkly gold bows.

I'm not sure if I have a future Diva on my hands or a Star Wars fanatic. Either way, LORD HELP ME!