i'm baaack.....

so it's been 40 days since i started my retirement.  i have to say....i have ZERO complaints.  i sometimes find myself rushing through target or safeway, seething with anxiety over potential work emails piling up.  i also find myself still trying to "stock up" for the week, when there's really no need anymore.  i can buy milk on wednesday morning, no biggie.  another thing is friday routines.  fridays were my "wfh" days and i would cram in laundry, groceries, shopping and whatever else that needs to be done in between working.  my friday routine is so engrained in my mind that i find myself holding off on errands and chores for friday.  other than those things - i have settled nicely into the retired lifestyle.  everyday i feel like i'm so busy, but such a great busy. :)

CRAFTS
the hoodie business is slow, but not a problem.  i've been busy with eBay...and i have to say, i am SO done with eBay.  never again.  i still have a ton of things to list on craigslist but i've been procrastinating.  i've also been needing to cut up on FCNY shirts and haven't really gotten around to it.  so many things i haven't gotten around to....but i will...i hope. 

today, i went out and picked up some of the materials to start the boys' growth chart.  i found a really cute one on pinterest and i'm going to make something like it.  
i'll need to get the elbow grease ready since this is going to be more manual than i'm used to.  

MY BOOK
still thinking about my book....but not sure where to start.  so that will come in time...i know it will.....

THE BOYS
on monday june 25, braden asked to be potty trained, so who am i to discourage him.  but i wasn't going to encourage it.  i was hoping we could get through the summer and then hunker down and potty train.  so far, the most frustrating thing is that he has the same problem as cooper had ---- he won't poo in the potty.  he will sit and sit and be happy as a clam. but he will not do the doo in it.  so for 4 days he held it in..until finally i had to just give him a diaper.  *sigh* i guess it'll come in time, it took some time (a looong time) with cooper, so i'm hoping it won't take THAT long with braden. 

cooper's in swim twice a week until kindergarten starts on 8/28/2012.  i'm so anxious about kindergarten.  i feel like we've been so sheltered in the QLS bubble and i'm really scared to start this new chapter.  what a huge step for all of us.  the good thing is, as the time draws near, cooper is really excited.  so i'm feeling better about it.  we are going to miss his teachers though.  he's had THE best teachers, but hopefully we'll be able to keep in touch.

maybe writing here will help me keep my days straight. :)

what's up

Aug2011
puffy names

Oct2011
fairy wands
tutu's

Jan2012
tank tote

Feb2012
door snake
valentine's day
dino hoodies

happy holidays

cute pin cushion

thanks to pinterest, i found this little gem of a craft to make. and it was RIDICULOUSLY easy to make. gives me even more reason to drink more beer!

homemade halloween

i decided to try my hand at making costumes this year. i'm actually pretty pleased with how everything turned out - except the boombox. by the time i got around to making the boombox (the last item), i was over it. but it's ok..it's just a boombox.
Braden = DJ Lance Rock from Yo Gabba Gabba
Cooper = Captain America

feather headband

i whipped up a feather headband. so easy to make. of course now that i want to make a peacock feather one, the whole world is sold out of peacock feathers! wtf. in any case, it's way more convenient than those feather extensions, although, you know i'm just saying that because i'm jealous. but this does provide a level of convenience and ...frugalness. those feather extensions are pretty expensive! $30 a pop and you have to crimp those thingamajiggers. no thanks, i just throw mine off and on....of course probably not a good idea to go crazy on a roller coaster with it.....hmmm..

i'm here!

where have i been, you ask? the sewing room...



...and many more! i've made so many boxy make-up pouches that altho i love them, i'm growing a bit antsy to do something different. so next up, reuseable grocery bags! i just need to get some canvas and i'm well on my way to grocerybag-a-palooza!

pouchies

i've been sitting in a sewing storm and i feel like i'm completely sucked in. i started with those little snack baggies...now i got me some zippers and i'm ready to get to perfecting these little zippers box pouches. they are pretty small, but oh-so-cute! i can always adjust the dimensions of the fabric and make them bigger. but for now, these little things are perfectly trial-sized! the one i posted her is the last one i did with a laminated cotton lining and canvas exterior. i'm pretty sure that my sewing machine hates me for it. the laminate is way too sticky and the canvas and laminated cotton proved to be way too thick for my standard home-use sewing machine, even with a large needle. i'll just have to stick to interfacing.

snack baggies - trials & tribulations

oh man, who knew sewing would be this hard! i never even imagined that i would have a hard time sewing STRAIGHT! i can't even sew straight for pete's sakes! so i got the fantastic idea that making reusable snack baggies would be a great started project. i purchased all this cute material and got all psyched up for it. it looked easy enough, right? HA! i've produced 3...the first one was the most epic fails of all fails...no joke. it turned out not even being a bag. it was just a big rectangle. i wasted my cute dr. seuss material for that too. so for the next one, i got smart. i knew it wasn't going to turn out the way i wanted it ...for a while...so i used old material that i had lying around that probably wouldn't use for anything. unfortunately, the nylon had to be wasted, but that's pretty inexpensive. in any case...this time at least it ended up being a baggie! lines were not straight AT ALL..didn't even close my stitches..but the fact that it resembled a baggie was thrilling! #3, unfortunately, ended up looking alot like #2, even though i thought i was supposed to improve with each one. *shrug* so after talking to yuko about my struggles with sewing straight, we came to the conclusion that i wasn't trusting my sewing machine. the more i tug and pull, the less straight it will be. which leads me to last night's start on baggie #4. i had 5 minutes while cooper was poo'ing to get the velcros sewed on, so i took a deep breath and trusted my machine...it worked! well, of course it's not totally perfect, and it did go crooked a little bit and i forgot to close my stitches..but it was MUCH straighter! can't wait to get a few more minutes so i can work more on baggie #4!

wire-rimmed flowers

for some reason, i have a newfound love for flowers....ribbon flowers, tissue paper flowers, fabric flowers, you name it, i love it. so naturally, i also fell in love with the wire-rimmed flowers. i was especially attracted to these because i had all the materials..and no sewing was required! that's always a plus for me. in any case, i started making these with the intention of making them for the teachers for flower day of teacher appreciation week. i was going to make each of them a mini bouquet, but when it came down to it, i just didn't have enough time. these were somewhat time consuming only because you have to wait 24 hours for the glue to dry...and on top of that, it's super messy. perhaps i used the wrong glue. the original instructions that i found suggested i use tacky glue. but i had modge podge at home, so no point in buying more glue. to this day, i don't know if that would have made it any less messy. i also used regular wire but i'm fairly certain that using floral wire (white wrapped ones) might have been even better. ohwell, maybe next time. i ended up giving each teacher one, and made my mom a bouquet for mother's day.

fabic rosette necklace

this was probably one of the easiest crafts. but then again, you know me, i'm all about the E to the Z. fabric, felt, necklace chain and hot glue fun...and you're in necklace business! it's probably just me, but i needed 3 practice flowers before i actually was moderately happy with the flowers. after you get into a groove, it's super easy. the hardest part was getting hot glue burns. ugh.

when life gives you the stomach flu...

at the end of 2010 and beginning of this year, i felt like our family was having a lot of stomach issues. realizing it wasn't just OUR family made me feel better knowing that it wasn't my cooking. ;)
in any case, i started saving up empty toilet paper rolls in anticipation of making this. my homage to the stomach flu (my poor boys). but you know what they say, when life gives you the stomach flu...make....toilet paper roll wreaths!
gotta start saving up again, since i need to make 1 more. but seriously, i'm not wishing for another bout of stomach flu in this household. eeps.

ribbon flower headband

after mary sent me the video tutorial, i got the itch. and you know how that turns out. i found ribbon at the dollar tree and a 2 pack of girls headbands to match..$1!! it's so wrong it's right!

this is the finished product. although i realized i didn't follow the tutorial, it still turned out O-K. i'm not happy with it, but i'm also not going to do anything drastic...c'mon now, it's just a headband...

hopefully the mills girls will love it! if not, i won't blame them either. ;)

gripe

i do have one gripe...i wish that the boys' school allowed homemade goodies. they have plenty of parties, but due to a new schoolwide rule, we can no longer bring foods that are not sealed with ingredient list attached. there are so many goodies that i wish i could bring...guess i'll have to wait until they go to public school. *sigh*

earring holders for the girls

since i had extra materials left over (basically just mesh), i asked the girls if anyone wanted one too. 4 of the girls wanted one, including mayu who asked for a smaller version. no problem! these were easy to bang out, i just don't really like working with the screen. first of all, it's really sharp. another thing is, it's hard to pull it tight when i have to glue it down to the frame. i wonder if a regular staple will work. i would just hate for the staple to go through the frame yet again!
in any case, i got 2 new fabrics since v likes green, i thought i'd make her a green one.
in the case of embellishments, i actually really liked the red flowers that i added to mine, but because they were dug up from my remanants, i didn't have any more. and being the anxious person that i am, i couldn't wait. so i took the advice of my uber-crafty friend, mary, and made some fabric rosettes with bead centers. they turned out ...alright. shrug.

earring holder

anxiety strikes again...and as a result, my earring holder is done and hung! i couldn't wait to start this project!! i had some materials at home (glue gun, staple gun, ribbon) and the rest of it, i got at walmart (frame, remenant fabric & mesh). not too many materials necessary for this project, which was great cuz i got a chance to start AND finish while the boys were napping.

of course, every project of mine doesn't come out without some learnings...ie., mistakes...and war wounds. *sigh* first big mistake -- i used a staple gun on a $5 frame from walmart. the staples busted THRU the frame. to make matters worse, i tried to fix it by covering it up with some ugly fabric flowers i had hidden for years. now i know why they were never used, thus "hidden". blah. ohwell. what's done is done, next time, i'm just using the glue gun. and in regards to my war wound, i went to go hang it and found i had blood all over my hands. i had no idea i had even hurt myself so i didn't even know where the blood was coming from! doh! in the words of cooper, "i'm a tough guy!"

i'm not really a flowery kind of person, but like i said, i wanted to cover up the staples around the frame and ended up with a super flowery looking earring holder. eeks. oh well, i didn't want to start over again so i just pushed through it...i'm over it. now time to buy some more earrings!

DONE! rosette wreath gift

i started a rosette wreath for a dear friend of mine last month and i'm finally finished! with all that was going on with work, i had little to no time at all to run out and find felt and ribbon for the finishing touches. hallelujah for working from home and blocking off my calendar for some errands. who needs groceries...i used that time more wisely and went and got ribbon!

i learned a few things while i was making this wreath:
1). i should have wrapped the styrofoam wreath form BEFORE glueing down all the rosettes.
2). trace the wreath onto the felt BEFORE glueing down all the rosettes.

since i didn't think about wrapping the wreath first, until it was too late, i thought i should at least use a piece of felt to cover up the ugly styrofoam, for one...but also, in case the crepe paper rosettes, being burgandy, should rub off onto the door. she'll be hanging this on the inside of her front door and i would hate to stain it. so i just cut some white felt and then pinned it onto the wreath form.

i also pinned the ribbon to hang the wreath under the felt. since i pinned everything, this will make it much easier for her to either change out the ribbon if she wants or adjust the length of it.

i had a good time making it, but when you make one for someone else, the pressure is always greater to make everything perfect. hopefully she'll like it!


2 options for ribbon. i kept the 2nd one

family rules

so i'm a biter. that's my biggest problem, i don't have any creative ingenuity like some people. so what i do is rely on others to come up with all the creative stuff and i just try my hardest to recreate. sometimes i fail beyond embarassment. other times, i'm surprised i could pull it off.
i saw someone who made and sold these "family rules" prints. i thought i'd try my hand and see if i could make one. alas, my latest creation, the chew family rules. i'm going to frame it and put it.....ummm..somewhere in our house...ok, so i have another problem....

rosette wreath gift

a dear friend of mine commented on my FB about how she loved the rosette wreath and wanted one for her condo. i decided that i would be honored if i could gift one to her..made with love. she has an extremely endearing story behind wanting this hung up on in the inside of her front door and it made me all the more determined to put all my love and care into this piece. with every twist of the crepe paper, i thought about her love story and her dedication to roses...no pressure, right? i hope i can do it justice.

i've put in the order for a 10" wreath form. surprisingly these things are so hard to find! the one i have is an 8" form and to be honest, i think it'll be a tad small. so 10" should do it. beyond that, i've already twisted 243 feet worth of crepe paper roses (3 rolls of streamer) and hot glued them shut. i've got an abundance of hot glue gun so once my wreath form arrives next week, i'll start snipping the stems of the roses that i have and if i need more, i'll just continue with the twisting. so far, the roses are turning out FAR better than the ones i made my wreath with. hallelujah!


243 feet worth of roses

crepe rosette wreath

i've been anticipating this moment for a loong time coming.....total completion of my crepe rosette wreath....and HUNG UP in the living room! ;) i just replaced the painting that was up there, but still, i can't believe it's done.
i contemplated what i would even do with the wreath itself --- paint a wooden plaque and use a plaque easel? paint a wooden plaque and hang it on the wall? paint a canvas and hang it? i just had NO idea. well, i finally made a decision and..yep..went with the cheap route. i bought a wooden frame from walmart for $10, removed the backing and glass and glue gunned the ribbon around the frame and onto the wreath. it's a bit crooked, but..whatever. it's a bit RED for our living room...but again..whatever.