This post will be a jumble…so many things in so many directions. That’s my life right now. Some days I feel a little more scattered than others. When I’m having a scattered day I am trying to be mindful and prioritize, slow down when possible and forgive myself for not vacuuming.
I finally set up my sewing machine in J’s room. Not really sure what took me so long to get back to it… perhaps lost creative mojo.
Quilting
Now that my machine is in a usable space I got out the scrappy quilt top I made before Christmas. I settled on a tie-dye fabric from my stash for the backing. As soon as I laid the quilt on the floor for basting, my helper showed up.
Making the bed is pretty much his favorite activity…well maybe eating and sleeping are tied for first then making the bed. Of course, he doesn’t understand that laying the quilt out nice and flat and smooth, keeping it all inline are an integral part of the process.
Teaset pincushion
Since this desk overlooks the front yard, it’s a perfect spot for Marvin to do a bit of bird watching. With that in mind, I decided that the standard tomato pincushion wasn’t the right choice…looks a little too much like a ball.
I made this teacup pincushion a while back and have finally put it to use. I love that the cup sits slightly off-center on the saucer. When I first noticed this mistake I was upset but now I realize that this is a good thing. The off-center placement allows for more useful space for sewing tools at the ready.
Week of appreciation
Last week was declared Paraprofessional appreciation week by Governer Walz. Our school went all out making us feel appreciated in so many ways. Puny gifts, signs on our lockers, cards, and breakfast but honestly, the most meaningful one was drawing and note from a student that I wasn’t sure I was making an impact with.
Archery
Archery season is upon us. I love this season even with the distance we travel most Saturdays. It gives Mini-me and I some quality time in the car.
Birthday Boy
J turned 20 years old today!! TWENTY!! So crazy. It was hard not to be with him today. I was very distracted with thoughts of him throughout the day. I just wanted to hop in the van and drive to Duluth. I’ll be calling him shortly when his class is over…but it’s just not the same.
What else…oh yeah…I dyed my hair…mostly the underside…purple. Well…technically eggplant. Yep…totally went for it. It’s really fun and I love it. The family had a bit of a hard time getting used to it but I think they have now. If you take a peek at my about me page, you will see the new look.
Another week that has flown by. Not sure how it happens that I don’t even touch my blog for a week at a time. That being said, I have been working on creative pursuits whenever possible. Well that’s not exactly accurate…I did waste a bunch of time one day on YouTube watching other people exploring the great outdoors when we were cooped up inside.
Getting organized has been a priority for me over the last few months. Trust me…I’m just scratching the surface. I’m sort of an organized chaos type of person. I want to change that so I’m working in baby steps.
I’ve gathered my paper scraps into this bin to make them more usable and visible.
But along with getting organized I trip myself up… I hate waste. Throwing stuff out really bothers me which is why I always seem to have a mountain of scraps.
With that in mind, I’m continuing my efforts to use scraps in creative ways. Mini-collages for cards and journal pages mostly.
Now that I have my sentiment stamps all in one spot, I have an easier time finding the words I want to use.
I wasn’t sure I was going to get this posted when I started to write, find and edit photos etc yesterday. But I guess my brain had other ideas. I woke super early this morning soI was able to sit and finish my post with my first cup of coffee before getting ready for work.
This week is one of change. J heads back to college for the Spring semester. Our school is having its final week of the semester. Next week brings new classes for me and Mini-me, just to name a few. With J heading back to college I’ll once again be expanding my crafty space to include the desk in his room. Perhaps then I’ll catch up with a couple of projects that have hit the back burner over the last month.
New projects
I’m creating an embellishment storage booklet. I was inspired by Gayle Agostinelli. So far I only have one page of the booklet completed. It’s not pretty but that wasn’t my purpose. I’m using up papers and extras that I’ll never use. It’s strictly utilitarian. Waste not, want not.
I slipped a few random paper pieces in the pockets so they’d actually show up…
It will make better sense when it’s all put together but basically I want to have a book or booklet with all my small or fussy cut embellishments at the ready instead of searching through half a dozen places for just the right piece I know I own.
Another new project is actually an old one that I never started. The sketchbook project that I purchased over the summer. Of course, at the time the due date seemed so far away…now its only weeks away.
I’m sure you’ll be seeing a lot more of these pages in the weeks to come. My only disappointment is that the pages are so thin…any wet media really soaks through very quickly. I definitely have to keep this in mind instead of just intuitively creating as I prefer.
Last weekend we finally put away all the Christmas decor. I snapped this late even photo the night before for my obligatory T Tuesday beverage reference.
Something fun that just came in the mail that I had to share was our “free” Marvin puzzle.
I say “free” because for the puzzle itself we had a coupon code making it $0 but then the shipping seemed a bit overpriced so they definitely were making their money somehow.
I snapped this pretty sky photo when I got to work this morning. The sun was behind a veil of thin clouds…it was a perfect orange disk. The view almost made up for the slick driving conditions from the overnight snow. Almost.
Such a bummer…we’re getting snow again right now…in fact, we are getting snow basically every day this week during one or both commutes. Not fun.
Hello and welcome to another edition of T stands for Tuesday! You may have noticed that I’ve been gone a while. I talked about my back saga in the previous post so we are moving on to something more festive and fun!
Since we were hosting Christmas (because I love it!) I had to lean on the rest of the family to do all of the heavy and not so heavy lifting.
Even the simple things like getting a cake in and out of the oven.
The past few years I’ve made a rum cake for Christmas but this time I went for a Fireball Whiskey cake. It was so good. I forgot to take a photo of it with the icing…likely because it wasn’t very pretty.
We had overnight guests on Christmas eve…Mini-me gave up her bed and slept on the couch. Of course, this meant that she was up even earlier than she usually is. She is my early bird kid.
It was a long wait…even with me making all kinds of noise in the kitchen.
This was my favorite present under the tree…it’s hard to wrap arrows. Mini-me needed a new set for archery season which is just days away.
Marvin had to be a part of the chaos…bows are his favorite.
I suppose the whiskey cake could have been my “beverage” for T stands for Tuesday but instead, I thought I’d share the tiniest cocktail I’ve ever seen. My BIL brought this over. It wasn’t anything I cared for but the can sure was cute.
I’ve been working on purging my rubber stamps. I was so frustrated digging through them trying desperately to find a Happy Anniversary stamp since I had promised my MIL that I’d make her some cards. I had a bunch of bases completed they just needed a sentiment and the also requested “shiny butterflies”. Thankfully I have a very crafty neighbor who is willing to share. Thanks, KW!
The “shiny butterflies” have the big wow factor but are pretty easy to make. I stamped each butterfly on white card stock with black Staz-on ink. I used watercolor paint to colorize each. After completely dry, I fussy cut each and placed on a non-stick surface. I coated each one with Diamond glaze. As they dry a slight curl happens quite naturally giving them an even more “lifelike” appearance.
I have now looked through every single one of my stamps and alas…I never even had a Happy Anniversary stamp. ugh. Well, now I do…I bought a set of sentiments at Michaels. I’m sure you’ll be seeing some cards in the near future with these words.
Today is Mini-me’s 17th birthday. I can hardly believe it.
I was planning to go out and get her favorite meal… Chipotle…but we are getting a snowstorm. It remains to be seen if we venture out or not.
Speaking of crazy storms and slippery conditions….have you seen this video?
The video was taken a few miles from our house. Mini-me had friends on that bus heading to a girls’ hockey tournament.
Hello!! I bet you thought I forgot all about blogging. December has been full of highs and lows….none of which had me racing to the keyboard to share. Since my last completed post was December 3rd, we have a great deal of catching up to do.
December 10th I actually had a partial post written for T Tuesday wrapping up November.
T Tuesday: November wrap-up edition
I’m a little slow on the draw lately. I’m finally wrapping up November. Technically, I’m not fully wrapped up since I haven’t completed the #junkjournalnov19 prompts. But just go with me on this.
11/30 Zodiac sign
12/30 Autumn evening
14/30 Dress
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As you can see I never finished the post including missing one of the days. That’s ok…I’m learning to embrace imperfection.
December really was a whirlwind. Lots of activities, snowstorms, J coming home for winter break, shopping, cooking, sewing, shoveling, cleaning, decorating and a little bit of creating.
Everything came to a screeching halt when I threw my back out on December 12th….the morning of Mini-me’s holiday choir concert…also a Thursday. This was really unfortunate because my chiropractor doesn’t work on Thursday! I always seem to break on a Thursday!
The last 2 weeks have been painful and scary at times. I’ve had an urgent care visit, 2 ER visits, 2 injections, 5 medications, an MRI, 7 days of missed work and numerous chiropractor visits…including one today.
In the end, I’m doing much better. Diagnostic tests came back good, the healing process is moving forward. My back still is easily fatigued and a bit fragile but something really positive came out of this. I’m learning to ask for help, let others do, letting go of things I can’t change and embrace the chaos.
Most of what I’ve been doing for the last few weeks is sewing in my spare time.
I can’t stop. I pushed off my junk journal November project a bit because of all my sewing. I still plan to finish the prompts…just a bit behind schedule.
I completed another quilt top with my scraps and some that were gifted to me. So many fun fabrics!!
I haven’t decided on the backing and binding yet to it sits for now.
Our school is having the annual craft boutique this week. After last year’s dismal turnout, I wasn’t sure I’d even participate but I just couldn’t help myself. Since I was in full sewing mode I decided to try a couple of crafty items that I wanted for myself but would be great and less costly made in bulk.
My first item is key chain wristlets. They are so cute! Since I have such a huge selection of scrap fabrics, I knew these would be perfect for another stash-busting project.
My next item has school staff written all over it.
They are lip balm holders on a clip. Perfect to attach to your lanyard, bag, backpack, purse….you get the picture.
Lots of fun varieties to fit anyone’s fancy.
Today when I set up I saw the cutest Gnome and snowmen decorations. I hope I make more than I spend. :)
Last week had my college student home not only for Thanksgiving but for two additional days due to bad weather on either end of the holiday break. You know its bad when they cancel college classes. But a blizzard with over 20 inches of snow will do that.
Today had me at school and then at a meeting until dinner time. Long day…but I knew I still wanted to stop in for T Tuesday before you all forgot all about me. LOL My own fault…I haven’t been very active in the blogosphere lately.
