Vow Renewal card

This is just a quick and simple card made for a vow renewal service.  Some occasions are really hard to make a card for!

Help me get a pencil sharpener!

Ok so this is a shameless plea for money.  I know it sounds crazy and none of us really have extra money. However, if you can spare a dollar or two I would REALLY appreciate it.

I just started a new grade with my teaching this year.  I inherited a classroom with 3 broken pencil sharpeners.  Someone gave me the one I left in my old room.  I have also purchased some inexpensive ones.  Needless to say we are in the 2nd month of school and I no longer have a reliable working sharpener!

So I filled out a project on DonorsChoose.  Any funding I get this week Kia is willing to match if I can get all my funding this week.  Please check it out right here.  It only takes a minute to visit and think about it.  PLEASE :)

I started a new blog for my teaching... it is small and only has a few entries so far but you can find that here.

Vinyl in the bathroom- less laundry?

I hate laundry.  There are a lot of things I would rather not do but laundry is something I HATE.  Of course I have kids and a husband who just don't seem to understand that.  One would think with my CONSTANT whining reminding they would commit it to memory.  Somehow in my house we go through 9 million towels a week.  I wish I was kidding but it is insane.  I also believe I am going to lose my sanity over this.  We have a teeny tiny bathroom that we redid awhile ago.  My husband took out a closet that was next to the bathroom and made the bathroom longer.  Then he moved the toilet and sink and gave us more space.  However, it is still a narrow space with no storage.  So hubby put this shelf up for me to hang towels from.  Well, nobody ever uses the towels that are hung on the hooks because they are so paranoid that the towel has touched another person's body before theirs.  So, FINALLY I put labels on the hooks.  Now they can hang their towels and have no fear that their towel touched another body!

Of course in my happy bubble this means there will never be a towel on the floor again and I will no longer need to wash a load of towels each day.  However, reality always has a way of kicking my butt!

I used Don Juan cartridge with my Cricut and repositional vinyl.

What crafting magazines do you read and/or subscribe to?

Lately I have been browsing more and more craft magazines.  Each really has there own distinctive style.  Some aren't for me and some I love everything in them. 

What crafting magazines do you read/subscribe to?!

My first published piece- September Cricut magazine

Awhile ago I mentioned that I was getting published by Cricut magazine.  I was SO EXCITED.  Frankly, I still am ;).  They kindly requested that I remove the project from my blog until October 1st.  So I am so excited that I can repost it now with you! 

I used a Cricut box and altered it for a gift for my daughter's teacher.  Inside we put some cards and pens.  I love the durability of the Cricut boxes plus the magnetic closure. 

If you want my measurements and things for what I did just let me know and I will post!

The card stock is all Coredinations cardstock... which always makes for a beautiful project!

I have something in the November issue, 2 projects in the holiday idea book, and a March project in!  I am so stinking excited!!!!

Thanks so much for visiting!

Who needs a place to eat when you can craft?!

WARNING-  9 MILLION PHOTOS HERE!

Remember my dining room make over?  You can check it out here. You know you are curious about this paint color!

Before- orange walls, purple curtains, and brass light

Yellow walls, brown curtains, and spray painted light

other end of dining room

 Remember my craft room makeover?  Yes, I have a messy issue... this is a long standing issue.  If you want to see part of it here.  I did that as a slow reveal.  I just knew everyone in the world was on the edge of their seat to see me transform an itty bitty space.  Admit it, you were.  Well, maybe you weren't but you can amuse me ;)

So, in a moment of daringness I asked my husband how important he felt the dining room was.  We have a counter we sit at for meals and space in the kitchen (if you suck in while trying to walk through) for the table.  So I was careful how I manipulated proposed the situation.  I suggested to him how wonderful it would be for him to have a room to tie his flies in for fishing.  A place with a desk for doing bills.  He thought that was a great idea.  So I graciously offered to move out of my craft room and into the dining room.  Wasn't that nice of me?!  Seriously, how many wives would be willing to leave a 5 by 5 space and go to a 12x10ish space?  It was a public service of mine really.

I even offered to set up his office for him!  That is pretty much the nicest thing I could do for him right?

So, it has taken a few weeks but I managed.

I didn't want to spend money on this endeavor... asking for money surely would have put a kibosh on the process.  So I spent under $4 on this little move!  I bought a can of spray paint for my jar lids so I could sort of pull some stuff together.  Everything else is stuff I had.  I don't care for the fact that everything is all mismatched but I did the best I could and didn't spend money so hubby is happy.  I mean of course he is happy, I so generously made the move!

I used a paisleys everywhere as my sort of unifying thing.  Just enough to try to make something consistent.  So the robin's egg like spray paint on a few recycled cans and jar lids along with paisley paper was my ATTEMPT to pull stuff somewhat together.

There was no place else for the hutch so it stayed in here.  I used it for my books though.  Ignore the pile of crap treasure to the side of it, that all needs to go to my classroom.

I put little paisley labels on all my boxes, you can't really see it in the photo but just pretend ;)  Over my desk are my cutting mats... I clipped them all together with binder clips and hung them from 2 nails.  The table to the right is a drop leaf table for the kiddos to do their homework.

My table/working area.  Ok, my clever move here- see the baskets hanging to the table.  Yeah, I am a genius I know.  Every time I craft I am losing everything I am working with.  So I keep a cup on the table for scissors, Gypsy pen and all that.  I had these two things from when I tried to hang them in my kitchen cabinets.  Well, my cabinet doors don't hang with them on.  So I hooked them to my table.  So you can see my ATG and Cricut Toolkit are in there now.  I can stick my cell phone in there, and other stuff I just need to set somewhere while working.

I keep a trash can on my table always and you can sort of see the can I spray painted with paisley paper around it back there too.

This is a black DVD shelf.  It fits mason jars perfectly.  I spray painted all of the lids, made paisley labels for the buckets, and put paisley paper on the back of the shelves.

On the labels I used chalkboard paper.  It is fun and as close of a match in color as I could get to the lids;)

You can sort of see the labels here :)

Some of my ribbon ;)

This is just one of those cheap plastic drawer things that I put paisley paper in to hide my  junk treasures.

 

This is a piece of furniture I didn't want to take out.  My husband made it for me.  He isn't just cute, he is handy :).  The best part is that is where all my wine glasses, martini glasses, margarita classes wine, alcohol  responsible adult beverages are stored.

My husband did this on the tin panels.  Sometime, I will tell you the significance  of the lupine in my life.

So now who wants to come over and play?!

Free for the taking!

Last summer I saw this gem on the side of the road with a free for the taking sign!  I was SO EXCITED because I knew just what to do with this- I learned about it on Pinterest.

Now, for those of you who don't know me let me give you a little insight into my mind.  I don't do manly work.  By manly work I mean lifting, mowing, transporting cargo, shoveling, snow blowing... pretty much anything I don't want to do.  Now, I don't think I am too good for it.  I am not lazy.  I just don't DO it.  I married the perfect man that would truly rather I don't but that comes with me being responsible for inside the house stuff.  I digress.  Anyway, I don't do lifting and taking trash off the side of the road.  However, my dad and husband do.  I mean this was one hot gem.  So I found myself rapidly dialing both of their phone numbers for them to pick it up ASAP!  I mean this was going to go fast and I was going to be very angry if it was gone.  So of course I told them it wouldn't fit in my SUV.  I am still a bit fuzzy on if it would or not but clearly it is WAY too heavy for me even if it would fit ;).  So, understanding my sense of urgency regarding the matter,  knowing I am a complete spaz and wouldn't let him forget if it was gone, my husband rushed right over to pick it up for me.  He was disgusted and told me there was NO way it was going in the house.  I plead with him, but it was FREE!  Of course he made some comment about how I say things are free but they always end up costing money- men!  So I was DETERMINED not to spend a penny on this baby.  I succeeded.

So, it sat in the garage for a year, under a bunch of hubby's stuff.  I finally made him pull it out for me a couple weeks ago.  Remember, I don't do man's work.  So he had to put it in the house for me and all ;).  I did manage to dust it and wash it but he had to rough it up.  He wanted to put an oak top on it but his router died mid project.  I insisted I wanted it now anyway.  Patience is a virtue yes, but I have never been accused of being super virtuous so phew off the hook on that one.

So on Pinterest you see all of these fabulous projects.  I found one with scrapbook paper modge podged to the front of drawers.  So I painted it white and tried it.  Yeah, not loving the look at a all-

Still determined not to spend a cent I got some brown glaze out of the garage to dim the whiteness.  YEah, my son accidentally dropped the entire thing all over the floor! YIKES!  So I used left over paint from another project.

I need to touch up a couple of white spots ;)

Not perfect but not bad.  Check it out the door on the bottom right fits 12x12 paper!

So do you know what project that paint is from?!
It is the paint from my cabinet makeover!  Remember that? See it here.