A Quick Hello

I've been back from our trip for about a week and a half now and still have yet to blog about it. I guess I'm just trying to get back up to speed on everything else here at home. And, of course, I can't seem to get focused on all the things I really SHOULD be doing because I keep getting sidetracked on all the other fun things to do. For example...

Here is a photo I took of Brooklyn in Dane's parents' backyard (straight out of the camera):

And here it is after using some actions on it in photoshop.

Fun, right? I discovered the world of photoshop actions several months ago but got re-excited (can that be a word?) about them again this evening. There are a lot of expensive actions out there for the more professional photographers, but I like to sample the free ones since I'm just using them for myself. In the above photo I combined a few different ones from here and here. They are so cool!! Hopefully soon I will be able to get back to everything else.

By the way, you need to have either Photoshop or Photoshop Elements to be able to use these actions.

Taking a Break

I know I just got back into blogging again (sort of), but I'll be taking a little break from it all for the next couple of weeks. We're spending time in the hot, humid, luscious state of Georgia with Dane's family. I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures to post when we get back. Later!

What's in a Name?

I've been thinking about this private/public blog thing a lot lately. Here's my dilemma... I would like to keep my family comings and goings private for the safety of my kids. But I don't have a problem with sharing all the other things that occupy my life and my time... you know... the crafty things with the world. So here's what I've decided to do. I'm going to create a new blog for all the crafty stuff I do. At some point I would love for it to become something I can make some money from but for now it's just a way for me to keep things separate. So here's where you guys come in... I've decided that it needs to have a spunky name (you know, just in case it ever does make it big). I'm totally having brain farts here and can't come up with anything. I'm not sure I actually want my own name in it because that seems too predictable. I know, I'm crazy. I'm not all that creative when it comes to names and titles and such. I would love to hear any ideas you may have. In fact, I'm thinking that if I find one I love and decide to use I may even just send you a special hand-made gift. I have no idea what that will be just yet since I just decided to do it. But I hope it will be worth your while.

Here are some things to ponder on:

• I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE polka dots
• I love bright colors
• I love funky/mod/retro shapes and designs
• This blog will probably include crafts, sewing, party planning, digital scrapbooking"ish"" things, furniture re purposing, decorating, etc
• I like to think outside the box
• I'm a Mac, not a PC
• I'm a procrastinator

That's all I can think of for now. I know that's a random list and the title does NOT have to include all or even any of those things. I just need help!

Recent Projects

I know I gave you a sneak peek at my current project on my last post, but if you read a little closer I also wrote "I'm always in the midst of many projects all at once". Case in point... I started this little project a few months ago but could never decide on how I wanted to "decorate" it so it just sat on my desk unfinished. Well, I finally figured out what I wanted to do and finished it up a couple of days ago. Isn't it just the cutest thing ever? I found the tutorial here about a year ago and knew I just had to make one (which was totally easy, by the way - except for trying to figure out how to "decorate" it). It is so fun to see it sitting there all pretty on my sewing desk.

And here it is fully functioning.

*****SIDE NOTE**** Porter is so cute about this cake pin cushion thing. Ever since I made the cake part of it he has been begging me to make one for him. Crazy, right? I asked him why he wanted once, since he doesn't sew. He just says he wants one to play with. I guess I could help him make one in more masculine colors, eh? I can see this beeing a cute addition to Brooklyn's play kitchen as well. Oh, the possibilities!

And here's another project that's been on my to-do list for awhile that I finally got around to making. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about my silly magnet faces. I've been working on those too. I just don't have any pics of my progress yet. Here is the "Mullet" dress. It's made from t-shirts.

My sister-in-law, Lauren, found this tutorial a couple of months ago and asked if I wanted to make one with her. Heck yeah! I love all the ruffles! We made them yesterday. In fact, I stayed up past midnight (no surprise there) to finish it so she could wear it to school today. Imagine my total disappointment when she told me this morning that she didn't like it and refused to wear it to school. I just about cried... no lie! When I asked her why she didn't like it, she told me that she didn't like the ruffles. WHAT?! The ruffles?! That's the most girly part of the whole dress. After investigating a little further, I gathered that it's not so much the ruffles as it is the color she doesn't like. More specifically, the grey. Go figure! I'm learning that anything neutral in color (brown, black, grey, etc) is actually a "boy color" according to Brooklyn. She's kind of a freak about that stuff. So after some near tears (on my part) and a little manipulation, I mean persuasion, she decided to go ahead and wear it today for my sake. Naturally, I had to take pictures because who knows if I'll ever get her to put it on again. Oh, the agony!

Anywho, that's all the craftiness I have for today. Have a great one!

And...she's back!

Happy Mother's Day everyone! I hope you've had a wonderful day. I told Dane that the only thing I wanted for mother's day this year (since I know an ipad is completely out of the question) was to wake up to a clean house and have my kids not fight at all today. I'm happy to announce that I'll be going to sleep to a clean house tonight. The waking up part didn't happen, but to his credit he's been working like a mad dog to make it happen before I go to bed. Now don't you judge... I know it's Sunday and that he shouldn't have been working on Sunday, but since he didn't get/make/do anything else for me for mother's day he wanted to make sure he got that taken care of before I lay my head on the pillow tonight. I'll take it! Especially since I won't have to do it myself tomorrow now. And the kids not fighting thing? Yeah, that didn't happen. Oh well, at least I still got lots of hugs and kisses throughout the day, right? And this would be the part where I should probably get all mushy and gushy and write about how much I love being a mother and how much I love my own mother, which are both true. However, I'm not an openly mushy/gushy writer so I'll go ahead and keep that stuff to myself.

Now on to other news... do you want a sneak peek at what I'm working on next? To be honest, I'm always in the midst of many projects all at once, but I'll try to focus on just one to share for now. I found this tutorial online a week or so ago and just thought it was so dang cute! We are flying out to see Dane's parents in a few weeks and I thought it would be fun to make these for the kids to play with on the airplane. So far I have the pictures printed and the templates saved for the props. I'll cut some of them out with my cricut and some by hand. I think it will be a fun project. And of course I post pictures when I get it finished. Oh, and just so you know, you have to click on the link for the tutorial in order to get the sneak peek since I haven't actually cut anything out yet. Therefore I don't have any pictures to post yet. Sorry if that was misleading.

Anywho, that's all for now. I've got to get my beauty rest so I can wake up to my clean house. Yay!!!

Oh, and P.S., I didn't forget that I mentioned that I will be making my blog private. I was just wanting to do a quick post so I can go to bed. I will add everyone's email addresses and go private officially in a couple of days.

To Go Private or Not?

That is the question. I've been pondering this question for quite a while now. I'm becoming more aware of the dangers of putting my personal information out there for anyone in the world to see. Especially when it comes to my kids. I don't want to cut off anyone who may be lurking (friendly ones, that is) so I'll put it out there for you to email me or leave a comment with your email address so I can add you to my list of approved readers. Don't worry if you've only lurked and never commented. I won't judge. I do it too! But if I know you, and you still want to peek into my world, let me know that you'd like to be invited to read my blog. And maybe (I'm not promising anything), but just maybe, I'll actually start posting again. I'll plan to go private this weekend some time to give anyone time to respond.

Wait! Who am I kidding?! I haven't written on this thing for so long that I probably don't even have anyone checking in on me anymore. Silly me! Oh well, for all you spiders in the cobwebs that may be reading, I'll be going private in a few days. That is all.

A Face Lift

So I was browsing a digital scrapbooking website earlier today and came across this super cute "blogwear" kit that I just HAD to have! Now, I'm sure you're asking yourself this question... "Why in the world would she even be LOOKING at stuff for blogs since she hasn't even touched her own blog in 8 months?!" That's a good question. I guess I'm just a sucker for cute things. So anywho, I decided my blog needed a little facelift (although I'm not sure I'm completely satisfied with the header yet). I got straight to work amidst all my MANY projects and obligations right now. And wouldn't you know I still debated whether or not to actually post anything today? I know... I'm CRAZY! So I'm going to make this short and sweet and try not to overwhelm myself with the thought of going full force back into blogging again. Maybe that way I'll actually get in a post or two again sometime in the near future. It's good to see you again, blogworld. Let's not wait so long next time.