Let the Countdown Begin...

So the other night I couldn’t sleep so I parked myself in front of the computer and started perusing my favorite crafting blogs…from which I clicked through to a bunch of other blogs…

BIG MISTAKE

Now I MUST have chalkboard paint – I saw so many cute things that were done using chalkboard paint…from masking a plastic charger so you can have a cute colorful chalkboard for your kitchen…to painting small wooden boards to be used as door hangers. I got this GREAT idea from seeing all the chalkboard items…but I must wait to actually do it :(

Anyway – I have been crafting up a storm…I am finally finished with the holiday craft fairs – I participated in 3 of them this year – I did OK – I hit the goal I set for myself – I was hoping to surpass it but I will take my goal…

I have a few orders of some items to finish up – hoping to complete that this holiday weekend – as for the first time in 5 years we are not traveling – I could stay in my PJ’s the ENTIRE weekend if I wanted to…

I did want to show you a special project I have been working on. I found the best little site on-line for vinyl designs – My Vinyl Designer that I mentioned the other week. They are currently having a great sale on all there designs – 25% off (use the code: holidays) and best yet – immediate download. They also provide a weekly freebie as well.

The site has been running a contest each week – with getting ready for the craft fairs I wasn’t able to set aside the time to participate – but when this past weeks came up I had an idea that went "Ba-Blam" in my brain…

So this past week was to take one of their Advent calendar designs and create something with it…
I took CA007, a metal baking sheet, red, green, yellow and white vinyl, a few fonts, fancy holiday ribbon, a wooden star and a magnet and came up with this….



I managed to snag the baking sheet at a local craft store for under $2 and had TC drill a hole in the top.

When I imported the Advent calendar into my Silhouette Studio software it was a breeze to use…I simply did the layout to get to the size and shape I wanted it to be based on my baking tray – I decided to use the back of the tray so it would sort of sit out a bit from my wall when hung. I was able to split the images so I could cut the numbered balls and wording in red and the top and bottom of the tree in green.

I went a quick step further and cut out the top of the tree in a scrap of light yellow and trimmed it so I had the star shape that I layered over the green.

I used a snowflake dingbat font to cut some snowflakes in white to scatter and made a fancy bow to cover the top lip of the baking tray and used the excess ribbon to form a loop for hanging.

Now the number holder – I found a small already painted yellow star at one of the big box craft stores – slapped a round magnet on the back (didn’t even need to pull out my glue gun – Craft glue dots are the best things ever) and VIOLA…it becomes my day tracker. Before and after X-mas it nicely resides at the top of the tree.


I think it turned out quite nifty if I do say so myself – and my girls LOVE it…I was thinking of bringing it to my workplace but I don’t think my girls will let me do that – they want to hang it in their room.

Now to complete my orders so I can craft for myself some more…

The Holidays are Coming...the Holidays are Coming...

Scary isn't it...

It seems just like yesterday I was claening up pine needles and putting away all my snowmen...and now it is time to get all those snowmen back out...

Time sure flies doesn't it...

This isn't going to be a long post - just wanted to pop in and let you all know about a very cool site - I am sure many of you have stumbled upon it before - but Cool Mom Picks

Well they have there 2010 Holiday Gift Guide up - lots of great ideas for everyone in your life - from family to friends to co-workers to teachers, you name them they have an idea for a gift...so check be sure to cruise on over and check them out

A Fat-Ass update…

I know it has been quite awhile since I blogged a lot…and I am sure one of you may be wondering what is happening to my ass…has it shrunk any?

Back in the beginning of the year I wrote a post about Baby Steps. - where in a nutshell I discussed about changing the way I eat rather than focusing on WHAT I am putting in my mouth…

So all these months have gone by and I really haven’t lost any weight…but rather than being upset or sad I am fine…I mean sure I would love to be 20 lbs less – I mean who wouldn’t…but I have made a big impact on what goes into my body and what I use my body for.

Do you know I haven’t had a soda since the middle of January…TEN MONTHS…not to say I have cut out caffeine – because I as addicted as ever to my morning coffee…but I was more concerned about all the other stuff that was in soda…all the things you can’t pronounce…

Now does that mean my family has given up soda…no – but they have drank significantly less this year – for one I rarely buy it so if it isn’t in the house it isn’t an option…on the occasions we do drive through and the girls have a choice of course they are going to choose soda – and I am fine with that as having a small soda a handful of times a month I am not going to sweat it…

As for other things – I have been eating far more natural, non processed items - things like pasta and bread – yes I will eat them but I try and make better choices – higher fiber, whole wheat pasta vs blanched white pasta – whole grain breads vs “enriched” white bread…even with all that I would say I might have had pasta once or twice a month (and mainly in soups) and breads 2-3 times a week (mainly in the form of a high fiber English muffin topped with two egg whites for breakfast - NOM NOM NOM)

Does that mean I don’t eat anything bad for me – ummm Hella No…life is life people and if I want that mini Almond Joy from the kids Halloween Candy stash – I am eating that sucker (I was very sad that they didn’t collect any York Peppermint Patties for me to steal) – but I am not also eating that 3 Musketeers, that 5th Ave. bar and the Butterfingers…

Another part of the equation is exercise…this past spring I learned I really enjoy kickboxing…so I bought 2 kick boxing DVD’s and had myself a grand old time…worked up a sweat, stretched some muscles…

THEN….a great gold glow showed up one day…a GOLDS GYM moved into town…about a 5 minute drive from my house – and best of all since it is an express gym the cost was only $9.99 a month…SIGN ME UP….

So since August I have been hitting up the gym 2-3 times per week…you would think I would see something on the scale move in a downward way – ummm nope…BUT there is a difference in my shape…and I have lots of energy to boot (don’t get me wrong – I still enjoy a lazy Sunday just sitting on the couch watching reruns of Teen Mom and What Not to Wear)…

The main thing is I want to be a role model for my daughters…I want them to see me making good choices for the bulk of my food choices…but not to sweat it if they have a piece of chocolate or a sweet treat every now and then… I tell them mommy isn’t on a diet – I personally think diet is a bad word…I tell them mommy is exercising and making good food choices so I am around for a long long time…

Sure when I am at the gym I look around and see someone who looks 20-30 lbs lighter than me and think “One day I would love to look like her” – is she all supermodel skinny…nope she is a mom – she has a pooch (albeit a smaller pooch than mine) – her calves are just as big as mine – she has the same dark circles under her eyes – the same small little wrinkles popping up…but overall is just a bit smaller…But then I think to myself as I look around and see women who are larger than me and I have to think to myself – out there there is someone who is looking at me saying “One day I would love to look like her”

So I embrace who I am, what my body dictates it wants to be…and I will just continue to try and make better eating choices and make sure my muscles get used for something other then sitting down and getting up from the couch….

I think I birthed a Corleone…

So faithful readers of my little blog (all, what 3 of you??) may remember around this time last year PWG attempted to do a little Elf extortion

Well, every year we attend our church’s Holiday Bazaar. At the Bazaar they have a room where kids get to shop for {insert sarcasm here} simply lovely {end sarcasm} holiday gifts for family. Most items are $2 or less and the kids emerge with the gifts fully wrapped (i.e. brown paper bag and a few staples). The girls love doing this as they pick out the gifts on their own and TC and I are dually surprised come Christmas Morning (no matter how many times I drop the sucker the Tweety Bird Bell refuses to break).

In the past we have provided the girls with $5-6 to buy gifts – however for the past 2 years they have been receiving an allowance – so we decided this year they have to use their own money to purchase gifts…

Ummmm yeahhh – while the tightwad TW has quite a bundle in her wallet – the more carefree PWG is only sporting a few bills in hers…

So she told us she would do extra chores in order to earn extra money and as such presented us with this price list last night…



Personally I think .50 cents to clean up cat crap is a downright bargain…considering we have two cats and a litter box that needs scooping every day…

But my favorite is “Cleaning up Dead Things” – TC said he would take her when he goes hunting because he needs some help when he shoots his deer…PWG response was “that will cost extra…you have to read the fine print”

Now just to put your mind at ease it isn’t like we have a plethora of dead things around our house…I can only assuming she is thinking ahead to the Elf and what might occur if there is no candy…

To brighten your Monday Blahs

So I have mentioned my fabulous, awesome Silhouette cutting machine before.

And after almost a year with it – I am still absolutely in love with it. They recently released a new software package to use with it – makes it 100x’s easier to use when creating my own quotes and manipulating images. I have made A LOT of shelf blocks with quotes on them for some upcoming craft fairs – those pictures will be coming at a later date.

Last week I was introduced to a new website – My Vinyl Designer - While I have access to the Silhouette store and a ton of images and phrases one can always have more…right???

What I love about My Vinyl Designer is you can buy images in a variety of formats – so if you have a Circuit or a Silhouette you can buy the file that is right for your machine. My favorite part is the fact that this site sells individual images as well as packages of designs. Also once you buy the image it is yours for immediate download + you can use it to create wonderful things to sell…that is right you have access to use the images and sell those items…something that is not available when I use Silhouette store images.

So I decided to try out a design and used TX and PWG as guinea Pigs…

I saw Alphabet 6 and loved it. So I bought it…(at 25% off too…use the code holidays) and what did I do with it…

Well first we went to the Big Box craft store and bought some 8x8 canvas and some Acrylic Craft paint…We used Apple Barrel Paints in the colors of Kiwi Green, Lagoon Blue and Hot Pink.



We painted them up – it took about 4 coats for a nice solid look – although I did like the wash through look of only 1 or 2 coats on the canvas as well…



Then I let the girls (sort of) pick their vinyl colors –

TW picked Dark Grey for her letter and white for her name – she also picked the font she wanted for her name (Fontdinersparkly)

PWG started to pick some weird colors of vinyl that really didn’t go and I was able to sway her to a Rose Red for the letter and a Chocolate Brown for her name and was able to sway her for the font (Merced) – because I loved the way the “N’ swooped.

I adhered the vinyl to the canvas – this can be a bit tricky since the canvas isn’t fully smooth – I have found if I apply pressure the underside of the canvas as I rub it works better – I still have some issue but if you go slow it should be fine.

We finished it off with 2 thin layers of Matte Modge Podge to seal the vinyl to the canvas…



Hope you like… I haven't yet decided what I am going to do with my Hot Pink painted canvas...but I envision using this alphabet A LOT...This would make a great new baby gift...or a wedding gift - put the Brides and Grooms name in middle...or use multiple canvas frames to spell out a name and use an adjective to describe the person in the middle.

A very Happy Holiday indeed

Merry Glee Christmas 5x7 folded card

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