Back to artin' + craftin'

Okay enough of the electronic gaming and sci-fi interruptions, back to our regularly scheduled artin' and craftin'.

Here to update the blog a bit. I can always sense when I've been away too long...too many "posts" are flying around in my head. Too much stuff is already causing a clog so I don't need any extras finding their way in there.

First off, I noticed that I never blogged about any of my other cards from the holidays -- I had so much fun working with some new stamps from theangelcompany, figuring out that those cute, new cuttlebug embossing templates fit into my original sizzix machine quite nicely, using classic black and white photos, and an idea or two inspired from marthastewart.

My attempt at decorating the Clear glass ornaments with monograms using rub ons and stickers from american crafts and making memories turned out beautiful. That idea was originally from Ali's site during the month of December. I really thought they would be too fragile and that getting the rub ons to stay was going to be a task -- it wasn't, I made so many as gifts for friends and teachers.




tidbits of our christmas...new ornaments mixed with the old ones from my childhood...the pretty blue one I remember making with my mom (probably late 70s) Now my kids and I made our own...homemade tags for our gifts....my favorite spot to sit and look at the tree all lit up...favorite christmas gifts....and a forgotten bag of ornaments {probably bought at last season's after christmas sale} found in the basement had a little birdie just begging to be on the tree.








2/10/08 note : I found this post in "draft" mode and I had forgotten all about it.....it has taken about two weeks for us to get over all our sicky bugs and influenza. I haven't been that sick in years. Luckily all five of us had it at the same time. Whatever flu is going around -- I kid you not -- protect yourself. Its ICKY! you don't want it! :(

anyway -- more pics later...

The "simple" doctor visit

So yesterday afternoon went like a little like this:


2nd visit to the pediatrician's office in 5 days because of bad cold symptoms

$30

promising french fries to get you out of the waiting room with the choo-choo train.

$3

promising a stop at the store when you were crying inconsolably because we were headed home and turned right at the light instead of left (the way to grandma's house)
(that's about 8 min of crying folks)

$11.80 {for pullups and "tay-toe chips"}

A peaceful car ride home in addition to knowing you don't have strep {which would've cost me more money}
of course,

Priceless

Storm Clouds in Rochester

For today just cool pics of last Wednesday's very dramatic wind storm -- gusts up to 75mph. Not usually seen around here often -- it sounded like a train coming down the road. Around 5:15am we suddenly heard a huge rumbling sound, things hitting the window screens and the house, etc. Very bad for several areas who lost power and didn't recover it until Friday night. Phone and Cable are still out for a small percentage.













For a brief while {very brief believe me} I felt like someone from one of those storm chasers shows. It was both scary/exciting to be outside during the early hours of the storm. I wasn't out there very long, too many things flying around.....felt like Dorothy. What you can't see is the wind whipping around the other tree branches to the left side of me or how much it was pushing the pine tree over.

Wait........... let's take another look at that last one.....

To Wii a Mii

The big gift on Christmas morning was our Wii { -- because we all enjoy this silly thing called a Wii} Even more fun than playing the Wii games is the fact that you can design your own you...or as it is called a Mii. All the Miis that get created end up all together on one screen where they sort of walk around...looks like they are going up to one another and such. You can go in and "check on them" as my kids like to do. You can create more than one...this is too fun, one for each side of your personality. heehee. So we were a little bored and had a little fun creating new Miis to mingle with our real Miis...is this getting confusing???

my son: "look ma, your other Mii is laughing"
me: "cute"
my son: "lets change it"...[proceeds to give me all sorts of virtual makeovers, liposuction, botox treatments, disguises, beards, hairstyles, eye transplants, etc]

me: "ooooh, hairstyles, change my hairstyle....how about that one?" [pointing to the short cut]
my son: "um, that's just creepy"
me: "huh??"

my son: "you like that hairstyle? well okay then"
me: "why not? she's cute. Name her Mabel"
my son: "really, that's just creepy"

Okay so she really doesn't look like me at all except for the messy hair. but. but. she's my imaginary Mii friend.
okay.
I wish I had the freckles.

Make a flower loom embellishment

It was so fun to create this -- I took some pics to show how it works, the loom instructions come with the loom when you buy it, but here's my version:

[1] knifty knitter and yarn of choice, go 1 yard or more for a full effect, leave a bit of a tail looped around the first peg {the one that sticks out at the side, not the top} for a knot later
[2] begin looping around the pegs at opposite sides from each other, I made some mistakes here at first, couldn't tell. I do believe it is fool-proof. loops will look like a figure "8"
[3] once you go all around, I do some loops twice for the full effect, begin taking the remaining yarn and weave in and up through the middle of the flower to make the center
[4] tuck the last bit inside and down into the back of the flower and flip over the loom, now you have two ends
[5] tie both non-looped ends into a knot, the tail you left at the beginning and the remaining end piece
[6] now the fun part -- begin taking all the pegs off and you can see your handiwork coming to fruition
[7] little hands always like to come by and interrupt..um I mean help out, I keep him busy putting the pegs back in the little holes :)
[8] and [9] fluff it up and admire your cute flower embellishment. You handmade maven you :)

The finished flower is about 2.75in across. You can cut the remaining tail off if you like -- I like it cause it looks like a flower. I've also thought about attaching this to a pin back so it can be worn on a sweater. I can see this on a scrapbook page for my daughter too.

Knifty Knitter Makes a Card; Loves a new book

Happy 2008!

Just enjoying that "its a brand new year" freshness that comes with every January. I love the start of a new year, the new calendar, the renewed sense of purpose, and the chance to reflect on the end of a year and make goals for the coming one.

I always spend the last week of the year and the first week of January in that kind of reflective mood. Did fun things with the kids, went to our most fav place, Strong National Museum of Play, bought our yearly membership as a family present to ourselves. Can't wait to go again with just the little guy.....he wanted to linger and explore things waaaaay deeply....not bad, just that the other two are like butterflies. They flutter from one exhibit to the next with too much speed for a weary mommy. Its definitely a two adult trip. One takes slow and easy guy and the other takes the speedsters.

Wanted to come update the blog but really was liking the break. Towards the middle of December I remember putting alot of little things off until "later" {until January} And now that January is here....well, I felt a bit overwhelmed and needed to regroup my priorities. Kids were home so we had alot of fun-together time. Made a few cards. Went through the stash of craft supplies and found something I hadn't tried out yet. My mom had given us the "knifty knitter" Flower Loom {by provo craft} in a goodie bag for Halloween so we decided to try it out. I made the flower that is on the card with a little bit of yarn and tada a cute embellishment for a card or scrapbook. Okay, so maybe this loom's been around a while but I thought it was a cute idea I hadn't seen anywhere.

I've also been looking over all the photos from the past year, burning them on cds is the next step -- {they number in the thousands!!! OMG!!)but sadly most of my favorites haven't even made it into an album or anything...gotta work on that. It does start to seem overwhelming but I know it doesn't have to be. So many stories, memories and wishes for the coming years......so that will be one of my creative goals in 2008.

One of the Christmas presents I gave to myself was the latest book by Ali Edwards "Life Artist:scrapbooking life's journey" In it a multitude {its brimming} of motivation and inspiration to get working on my creative goal. It was apparent in the first flip through the pages that I had made a great purchase {always love that feeling}. Almost like she could read the mind of this scrapbook challenged mom of three, saying now-what-do-I-do-with-all-these-pictures? I single out the words "huge project" as I randomly stop at page 135 and read these words {regarding a huge project} "....I reminded myself to stick with the basics and focus on the photos and the story." Yes! That is exactly what I needed to hear. This is by far one of the best creative juices book out there. Again, I'm really pleased with this purchase...so happy:)

And Because I usually start reading from the back of books and magazines, this means, really, just a few pages in I was already in love with it :)