Lotus Sooz

2012

2012-01-02T18:26:00.000-05:00

My resolutions...

I feel as though time is flying...

2011-12-14T16:18:00.000-05:00

I can't even believe that it has been over 6 months since Osiris was born. Things have just been hectic.. Work is sorta busy, I have very little time to craft, but I have managed to crank out a few things. I made Osiris some little booties, and a portable chair strap. I also got a chance to make my niece's a pinch pouch for Christmas.

Osiris is almost crawling.. He gets on all fours, like in a push up position and then lurches forward a little.. It's awesome and terrifying all at the same time. We have switched to cloth diapering at home now.. He still uses the disposables at daycare and when we go places but it's all cloth at home and i am loving it.. Even the washing is not that bad. I guess we are trying to be green, and trying to save green.

Anyway that's all for now.. I'll post up some pics of the sewing later..

Look at that smile.. Couldn't you just eat him up!

Only the most ferocious dinosaur ever!

2011-11-15T21:55:00.001-05:00

Okay maybe just the cutest. This is from Halloween obviously. Just trying to catch you all up on the cuteness you missed.. Wait till I get the monthly pics up.. Omg.

He's totally into eating..

2011-11-11T21:10:00.001-05:00

We've started Osi on foods.. He's eating sweet potato, butternut squash, peas, rice cereal, and the first thing we tried was avocado. As you can see he loved it. That was a month ago.. Last weekend, well last weekend we mobilized.. My little man rolled over, twice. From back to front. I might have squealed in excitement.. Of course he has not rolled since, so I guess he's in no hurry to get moving.

Baby Legs Tutorial

2011-10-31T15:02:00.002-04:00

It’s getting colder here in Virginia.. It was snowing just this past weekend, that is a little odd for this area considering it’s not even Halloween yet. While baby pants are super cute, it is a pain in the tukuss to change a squirmy baby when you have to try and get the pants back on. This is where Baby Legs come in. If you have a baby you have undoubtedly seen them online, and perhaps on some babies.. I love them.. Even on little boys they are cute. You can buy them on line and spend a whopping $12.00 a pair and then wait days or even weeks to get them… Or you can take matters into your own hands and make your own.. It’s so easy and I think they are way cuter.

Here’s how you can make a pair or 3 for less than 15 minutes of your time and the cost of a pair of socks.

Step 1:

Gather 1 or several pairs of Knee high socks, I got mine from Target Juniors department. Since I don’t have a little girl selections are limited but luckily Halloween was right around the corner and the Halloween socks work for a boy or a girl.

Step 2:

Cut the socks right above the heel like so… Make sure to cut them straight as you can..

Step 3:

Cut the center of the foot so you have a shorter tube, toss the toe and heel parts. Unless you can think of something crafty to do with them, I couldn’t, but if you do then please let me know..

Step 4:

Take the shorter tubes and cut them on the fold,

Step 5:

Fold the shorter tube right sides together and sew the seam using ½” allowance on yoru sewing machine, Be sure to stretch the fabric as much as you can when sewing it so that it maintains it’s stretchy quality.

Step 6:

Turn it right side out and fold it in so that the two wrong sides are together, forming a cuff..

Step 7:

Insert the leg of the sock into the cuff with the cut sides all on one end. Sew them together stretching the material as much as you can, keeping a ½” seam allowance.

Step 8:

Flip the cuff down and Voila’ Baby legs, the cuff goes on the ankle..

I do have to mention that I origionally sewed in a Zig-Zig but a straight stitch, just as long as you pull the fabric so that It's fully stretched a straight stitch works just as well. I might like it a little better actually.

Here are Osiris’ chubby legs in a pair I made a while back..

See how the cuff goes at the ankle. It's so adorable. Not to mention how easy it makes diaper changes.. You don't have to let your baby's legs get cold when changing diapers. I think I paid $2.50 a pair for these socks.. so that's 3 pairs of baby legs for $7.50 plus 30 minutes of my time.. It would have taken less time except I had to take pictures. That and Osiris was not too happy that I was not playing with him.

Thanks for reading.. This is my first Tutorial so I hope I explained everything right..

Happy Crafting.

Um, hello... Yes I'm still here...

2011-10-16T12:08:00.000-04:00

Hello my fellow bloggers.. I'm still here.. I haven't forgotten about all the promises I made to you over the last few months..

I have the photos for the BabyLegs tutorial, I just have to get them loaded and write the tutorial up.. Osiris, that lucky boy, got three new pairs thanks to the tutorial. I made a scarf from a t-shirt using a super cool method I saw while surfing the interwebs..

I also discovered pinterest. It's a super cool website that allows you to create bulletin boards and pin various images, and links from the web to one place.. You know so you don't have to clutter up your bookmarks bar.. lol I highly reccomend that you go over and request an invitation.. It's so neat.

Anyway.. I'll get those pictures posted and you'll have a little step by step.. and when I get some time to do more I will post another tutorial also.

Happy crafting..

Ps.. Osi is 4 months old, and wearing 9month sizes.. He's my little bruiser.. Here is some cuteness to look at..

He went to the pumpkin patch with his daycare so I dressed him in his Moose outfit.. So cute.

It's been 3 months already??

2011-09-06T15:25:00.001-04:00

Holy Crap.. I cant keep up with anything! These past three months have flown by, and my little man is growing bigger and bigger. I cant even remember when he was 9 pounds.. Here's a little photo bomb of the past 3 months..

He's Just getting cuter by the second.

Did you notice the change???

2011-08-12T14:14:00.000-04:00

No I'm not talking about the backround changing again..I added a Favicon to the address of the blog.Blogger now has the option to add one. You can find all sorts of creators online to make your logo into one. Just make the image and load it up to the generator and they give you the little icon to download and you just load it into blogger. Just be sure to make it square or it will smoosh it square. Eventually I will go dot com with the address too..

I have plans for some tutorials and projects that are only a few hours to make. I just need to get them all sorted first. The first tutorial that is going to go up in the next week or two is a burp cloth tutorial. I know there are hundreds of them on the web, but I like when you can find many options for tutorials so I'll be adding mine to the mix. I also have an idea for something great for kids, Although Osi wont be able to use it just yet the older kids will so I will be making that soon too.. I decided I am just going to strap Osi to my chest and start sewing. lol

He might even like it. I cooked all of dinner last night with him strapped on so you never know.

Until next time.. Stay Crafty.

What chu talkin' bout?

2011-08-09T12:33:00.000-04:00

LAMO! I love the look on Osi's face. It's as if I just told him something unbelieveable and he responded "What chu talkin bout Mommy!?"

2 Months.. Hard to believe

2011-07-29T13:10:00.000-04:00

Well, I've been very neglectful of my blog.. In all fairness I have had my hands full.. Now that I'm back to work and Osiris is in daycare you would think that I would have more time.. I don't. Between getting up at 4:30 to get us both fed and ready, and coming home to make dinner and then pass out around 10 I don't have much awake time. I do wish I had more time to sew and craft. As he gets older I know it will be easier, and really I don't mind having him occupy my free time.

Osiris was two months old on the 26th.. It's amazing how much he has changed. He's laughing, smiling, and even talking, well in baby talk.. Cooing and Gaaing. I love it. He is such a happy baby.. I adore his "what the heck!?" face too.. I do have baby gifts to make, we have two friends that are having or have had multiples. One of our friends had twin boys not long after Osiris was born.. Our other friend is having TRIPLETS! I can't even imagine! So lots of sewing to do.

I will do my best to keep up with things over here.. It may turn into more of a My Life as I Live it kinda blog.. I think that's okay though.. I don't have many readers but those I do have I hope are interested enough to wonder how I'm doing. I will try and take more pictures and post them up as Osi grows as well as what ever projects I am doing around the house. I have a few things on my list, but have to buy the materials first. Until next time..

stay crafty.

Osiris

2011-07-11T09:22:00.000-04:00

Hello all!

here are a few pictures of our little fart machine over the past 6 weeks.. It is truely an amazing experiance being a Mom.. Osiris is a great baby and I love him more each day.. I start back to work this week.. luckly its from home, but next week I'll be leaving him at the sitters. that will be hard... How could you leave that face?

The arrival.. A labor of love.

2011-06-06T05:41:00.000-04:00

Sorry it's a bit late.. But as I'm sure you can imagine I have had my hands full lately..

On May 26th, 2011 at 7:43pm Osiris Gibbs Wilson made his way into our world... I was induced at 7:00am and after not a lot of progress at 2:30 was finally ready to start pushing.. After 3 hours of pushing, it was abundantly clear that my little one was not going to come out that way.. So into the csection room I went.. It was an exhausting day, but also very rewarding.. I will tell you I did get an epidural, I had planned to go natural, but when I got into the contractions at like noon, I decided that I was not goin to make it through the day natural. I'm glad I did it.. I was able to conserve my energy for the pushing.. Osiris is perfect. I would post pictures, but I've been in bed resting and feeding so I've been on my iPad, no flash, no photo uploader.

I am exclusively breast feeding.. It's been both rewarding and frustrating.. He latched on great, but he ate so much on day two that I was raw and bleeding, which lead to me crying... It was not pretty.. When we were home I sent Rich to the store to get me some Medela nipple shields, they were a God send.. I don't know if I could have continued without them.. I can now feed without them without problem. Osiris is one hungry boy too.. He feeds for like an hour every two hours, but luckily he is sleeping for almost 5 hours at night, mostly laying on me, but beggars can't be choosers.. I'm working on getting him into his bassinet... But this early it's not a huge deal that he prefers to sleep with me..

I am doing extremely well too.. My csection is healing great.. I had no complications and don't need a lot of pain medicine at all... I'm pretty mobile, but after a lot of up and down the stairs there is a lot of pain.. So my wonderful hubby has gotten a cable box and grounded me to my room..lol. I feel much better here, but I will say I am getting cabin fever! But there arent many places I can go while breast feeding.. I'll begin to pump soon, that will give me some freedom.. I have to say, if you are pregnant and don't plan on breastfeeding, rethink it.. Not only will it save you money, it will also save you time.. I can't imagine how much time I have saved by not having to get up and make a bottle every two hours.. Especially at like 3 in the morning..

Well that's all for now, I will get to the real computer and add a picture as soon as possible. Thanks for the love and support.

Until next time my crafty friends.

It's my due date...

2011-05-24T09:56:00.000-04:00

It's officially Osiris' due date.. and he' showing no signs of coming out..

I have an induction scheduled for Thursday morning so either way I'll get to meet this little bugger by then.. I'm so excited..

And still I remain....

2011-05-13T12:44:00.000-04:00

So, I'm still here, and Osiris is still warm and comfy in my body. It's 11 days till my due date, 13 days till they will induce me, if I don't go into labor before then that is.

Over all I have to say that I am still feeling pretty good. My feet are puffy as all get out. (I've renamed myself Puffy Cankle Toes) I also am finding it hard to get in and out of my car.. Today is my last day at the office so I wont have to worry about that for a while so that's nice. Other than that, I'm not complaining. We are on to weekly appointments. Last week they did my first internal exam to see if Osiris had started his decent. He hasn't.. :( I have been sitting on the exercise ball, so we will see if there is any progress on Monday. Part of me wants to go into labor tomorrow. Part of me wants to wait until the induction date. I'm torn. Every little pang or twinge I wonder if that's labor starting. Right now I have like a runners cramp on my left side.. I wonder... He is still rolling around in there alot, lucky for me he settles down when I'm ready to sleep..

They nursery is all together. We have everything we need, except a swing, and Mom is ready to hit the road driving to get here not long after Osiris' arrival. It's really crazy that it's this close already. I feel like this pregnancy has flown by.

Time keeps on Ticking....

2011-05-02T12:05:00.000-04:00

In to the future... No truer words have ever been sung.. lol. Tomorrow marks 37 weeks. Officially full term. Osiris could decide to make his arrival anytime. I keep thinking every little tingle could be a contraction.. But alas it is not.

It was a semi busy weekend at out house.. We got new kitchen cabinets, sans one little snafu on my part. I ordered 1 cabinet too big, luckily it was the base blind corner and the Installer is awesome and said to order smaller door and drawer and a filler piece and he would make it work. So that will be fixed by next week. Now we can tell how dirty our walls were, so we need to paint. I love the color, and we were able to reuse the tops that we put in when we moved in 3 years ago, so that was nice, I love those tops.

On Sunday I spent the wee morning hours, and by wee morning I mean from 8am to around 12, making some burp cloths.. they turned out so cute. I added some ribbon loops so that I could attach them to the stroller or attach a pacifier to them or something.. I thought they would be handy.. This is one of those projects that alot of people ask me how I sewed it, but there is really no point in a tutorial since you can just google it and find a hundred great tutorials online.

Well I guess that's all for now.. 3 more weeks to go so you may hear from me again or you may not hear from me for several weeks... Everything has been so great with my pregnancy I can only hope the delivery goes as smooth.

Untill next time.

It's almost time...

2011-04-21T07:46:00.001-04:00

Only 5 weeks or less to go.. Hard to believe really. It seems like it has flown by.. I've been so busy building my nest, as Rich says, and sleeping, lol, that I havent given many updates in nearly a month.. Well not much has changed. My Doc told me that Osiris is head down so that's good. My Mom and Sisters threw me the most amazing Baby Shower. It was awesome.. Good food, good friends and lots of talking. I had not seen many of these people since I got pregnant so it was great to see all of them. Of course in true Sooz fashion i forgot to bring the camera.. I never remember the camera, I seriously need to get a phone that takes great pictures because I always have that.. Frankly, I use my phone to take most of the pictures for my blog, so it's a good thing it's decent enough.

On the Sunday after the shower my Mom came over for the day and helped me paint the nursery and put the crib together. It was nice to nest with her since she has not been around through out the pregnancy.. She lives all the way up in Bangor Maine.. That's pretty far from DC.. I have also done alot on my own.. I'll take beter pictures, but here is a sneak peak of the progress for now.. Including the paintings I posted about earlier..

It's coming together quite nicely.. Nothing is in it's final state, but it's darn close. A lot of progress for two weeks I think.. We were luck enough to receive a ton of hand-me-down clothes from friends and coworkers so most of what is in the closet is all used.. It's great since I don't know what size he will be. I hung up everything from newborn to 6 months.. I am also very pleased with how the paintings turned out, and how I hung them.. It looks pretty sweet if you ask me. I'll take some better pictures after it's all done and I have everything placed properly but you get the idea..

I can't promise that I will post again before Osiris gets here because you never know. I wish you all health and happiness.

Take care.

Time Flies

2011-04-04T14:55:00.002-04:00

It’s weird to think that this time last year I was just going about my daily life not even thinking that a year from then I would be in my 3rd trimester.. Rich and I were not even going to start trying for a baby until November of 2010 so looks like someone else had a different plan.. I just can’t believe how fast the last 32 weeks have flown by.. It seems like it was yesterday I was peeing on a stick and telling Rich I was pregnant, and he was laying in bed telling me to call the doctor because he was reserving any reaction until we knew for sure.. lol Just like my hubby.. I think it was a good two or three weeks before he even really made any real acknowledgement of the little one we had made. Of course once we saw little Osiris on the first ultrasound, and realized we were several weeks further than we thought our heads were spinning.. and I was sleeping.. a lot. Seriously. I’ve never been so tired. I could go to bed at 9pm every night and still be tired. But I suppose that’s just my body working hard to keep my little one safe.. I have to say I have had an incredibly easy going pregnancy (knock on wood).. If every woman’s pregnancy was as easy as mine has been, I think that there would be a lot more babies in this world.. I haven’t had any real sickness, no weird complications, no cravings that were horrible for me, it’s been a dream really. I only hope my delivery goes as easy.. I don’t mind being in labor for several hours (of course I say that but I probably don’t mean that) if that’s what it takes, but I’m hoping for a natural delivery with no C-section.. so keep your fingers crossed for me..

My sisters and Mom are throwing me a shower this Saturday.. I am so excited to see everyone.. My mom will be here and I will see a ton of friends that I haven’t seen this whole pregnancy.. It’s going to be fun. I expect that I will have many hands on my belly on Saturday. Rich has been cleaning out the office so that we can paint and spackle this week. My mom will be here to help paint.. I might have to enlist some other help too.. lol I have finished the letter paintings I posted about earlier.. I still have to secure the puppets to the mobile better, Rich is concerned that the puppets might fall out or something. I have to get blinds, and curtains, and I want to get a book holder made.. I think that I’m in full nesting mode.. Well sort of, I have been wanting to clean, but I’m sometimes to tired.. I have mostly been cleaning up a lot, No weird scrubbing with a toothbrush or anything.. Mostly I am ready to start concentrating on the nursery. After Saturday I will finally be able to get it all together.. Hopefully. We still have to get a crib and changing table, But I plan on doing that Saturday after the shower or Sunday. I have a busy weekend planned for my mom and I so hopefully she’s not expecting much rest. LOL
33 weeks tomorrow.. WOW less than 7 weeks to go.. It’s hard to believe. I can’t even imagine how it’s going to all go down. Is my water going to break at work and I’ll be cruising to the hospital waiting for Rich. Will I start having contractions and then be able to make it in time? We live 45 minutes from the hospital so let’s hope not. Or will Osiris just be too comfy in there and the doctors will have to make him come out after my due date? Let’s hope not on that one either, I have a feeling he is going to be a big boy..

I Can't believe I never knew this existed!

2011-03-22T08:23:00.000-04:00

I love the Sharpie! I mean seriously, who doesn't right? they write on nearly everything and you can get them in about a hundred colors.. I just discovered that Sharpie has a blog! check it out here.. It's pretty awesome.. It links to all sorts of other blogs and sites that feature sharpies in posts. I'm in love, and I'm inspired.. Sharpie might just be my new medium of choice for some of my projects.

Weekend Crafting, er... Nesting..

2011-03-21T08:29:00.000-04:00

So Rich's kids were not with us this weekend, so what did I do while Rich was out all day saturday, and since my plans with a college buddy never happened? I crafted! and what a crafting Saturday it was..

I made a Mobile for Osiris. I had seen this photo hanging mobile a while ago and while I didn't think of it at the time, when I was looking online for mobiles that were not super busy and didn't attach to the crib, a light bulb went off.. I can use that photo mobile! Originally I was going to fold origami cranes in different colors.. But then I remembered folding all 1000 that Rich and I folded for the wedding and my fingers started to hurt.. So I searched on line for tiny stuffed animals, a la Beanie Babies.. No luck. they were all to big. then it hit me, Finger puppets! Perfect! Off to Amazon I clicked.. I searched and after about three pages I found some that were cute and had arms and little feet.. I didn't want your typical head only puppets.. I felt that was a little grotesque for a baby to see. Of course after I thought of all this, and was patting myself on the back for coming up with such an origional idea I Googled Finger Puppet Mobile and found several others that were made by Crafty Mama's like my self.. But hey you know what they say, great minds think alike. So here is is.. It look longer to untangle the mobile it self than to put it together.. I think from opening the box to done it took maybe 5 minutes, and the results?? Well I love it! It's simple, It will sway in the breeze, and the little animals are just adorable..

In addition to the mobile, I also worked on the paintings for Osiris' room.. I decided to do 6 8x10 canvas paintings each having one letter of his name with a cooresponding animal on it.. I found the animals on shutterstock.. and used a Tracer Jr to copy it onto the canvas.. I'd like to think I could have drawn them by hand, but I'm only really good at drawing things realisticly and this saved me alot of aggravation..

I still have some to do on the paintings, I need to do some outlining in black to make the litle animals POP but other than that, I am very pleased with how they are turning out.. I guess Osiris' room will have an animal theme..I'm loving it so far.. I have to find some 8x10 frames in bright colors to frame the canvas so that I can hang them up.. Or maybe come up with something other option but I dont know what that will be yet.. Stay tuned for the finished product in a few weeks.. or days.. lol I only have 9 weeks to go so I guess I better get cracking. lol!

Sorry for the picture heavy post, but I didnt feel it needed to be two posts.. Hope you had a crafty weekend too!

A Blanket for a Boy...

2011-03-08T08:21:00.001-05:00

My boy to be exact.. Still feels really really odd to say my son, but I'm getting used to it. So a few posts ago I posted a link to Aesthetic Nest. I had seen a tutorial on how to make a hand cut chenille blanket on her oh so awesome blog. Well this weekend, since we have not started the Nursery, and will not be starting it for a while still, and I was in nesting mode, I decided it was time to give this blanket a go.. I trucked it on over to my local JoAnn's and started searching fabric. I must have had 3 or 4 different bolts in my arms trying to decide which one I liked best.. I ended up with this super cute owl fabric.. I loved the pattern, how it looked kinda retro, and the pattern could not be traced back to any commercial character. I was even okay with the over abundance of blue, and the Orange and yellow just popped. I did hope to find the same pattern with some red too but no such luck. I went to the flannel section and picked out three colors of flannel, orange, light blue, and dark green. Unfortunately they didn't have any olive green to match the pattern.

After I laid out the Fabrics in the order I wanted them and marked the diagonal for the first stitch the fun (or should I say tedious) act of quilting began.. After 3 hours of quilting, I had to take a break for the night... it's not as easy to sit and sew for hours like it used to be.. Sunday Morning I finished the quilting and then set out to cut, by hand, with scissors.. I have to say, I underestimated how much of a pain in the butt this would be.. I looked for a chenille cutter at JoAnn's but they didn't have one so I decided to just cut it by hand.. Probably should have waited to cut it, and ordered the cutter, It would have been totally worth the 40 bucks and would have saved nearly 5 hours of my Sunday, and the hand cramps and pain I've felt for the past two days! If I ever decide to make another one of these, I will be getting the cutter for sure.

Here is the fabric after 4 hours of sewing line after line after line.

This is the back after I had cut all the rows of flannel and put on the binding. Can I say what a wonderful world we live in that we are not forced to make our own binding all the time! I can't even imagine how long that would take.. I'll buy the packaged stuff to match thank you!

This is a closeup of the back, or front depending on how you want to think about it, of the flannel after 1 washing. I had Rich wash it on cold/cold and tumble dry.. He washed it with a towel to make sure that it had something in there to help with the fraying. I wanted the Orange to be the most prominant color so it's on top and the green is the bottom color so you don't see it as much.

I didn't curve the corners like the tutorial said.. I also didn't make the blanket square, I wanted it to be as big as possible, after all I did do all that sewing and cutting and I'll be damned if I wasn't going to use every usable inch of that fabric. LOL I love how the flannel frays up and gets all fuzzy.. I amd very pleased with how it turned out.

I did all that sewing with this belly getting in the way.. Ha. 29 weeks today..

Happy Mardi Gras everyone! Hope you have a great week..

Until next time my Crafty Friends!

For an Audience of One

2011-02-25T08:02:00.001-05:00

These guys are pretty awesome, They are homeless living in Cali. They are brothers, and the guitar player is missing his picking hand.. Give them some support.. They deserve it. I heard them on a radio show I listen to. The host Jason Ellis saw them when he was on the beach and invited them in to play.. In the time they were on the show they were offered a place to stay and two paying Gigs..

Blog Love, and other updates.

2011-02-23T11:00:00.002-05:00

Since I seem to have very little energy to craft these days I wanted to share some new (and not so new) blogs I have discovered.. Just a little Blog Love if you will.. Specifically I will be linking to the post’s that led me to discover these blogs..

First I have Aesthetic Nest. I loved the tutorial for the Heirloom Chenille baby blanket the minute I saw it.. It is simply beautiful. Who knew making chenille was that easy.. I am totally on the hunt for fabric to make one of these for Osiris.. This lovely crafty mama is so talented and has many posts on many topics. Definitely check her out.

Secondly we have Sometimes Sweet.. I cannot tell you how awesome her blog is.. She is adorable. Danielle is a new mom, and a lover of tattoos.. Of course that is only scratching the surface of her awesomeness.. She does a weekly post called Tattoo Tuesdays where she highlights one crafty chick a week and her tattoos.. Not to mention all the other neat things she blogs about. It’s a great read. I spend hours reading through back posts that happened before my discovery of her blog.

Third is Color Me Katie. Katie is a photographer, street artist and, improve anywhere participant who loves to have fun! Her blog is full of super colorful pictures of her daily outlook on life and the adventures of her cat Moo.. If you need a smile, her blog is the place to go.. Katie has the best outlook on life and finds beauty in everything, we could all take a lesson from her.. She certainly didn’t forget what it was like to be a kid and her life is better for it.

I think that’s all for now.. I see so many blogs on a weekly basis that are such an inspiration that it’s hard to pick just a few.. I typically link to the great ones there on the right of the screen so I don’t forget to check them out when I can. If you have a blog that you particularly love even if it’s your own blog, I’d love to check it out so leave me a comment with the link and maybe I’ll post it next time..

Oh.. and one more thing Baby Osiris related.. I’m in the last week of my second trimester, and Rich and I have change his middle name to Gibbs.. we decided it was better than Wisdom. Gibbs is Rich’s Mom’s maiden name. Only 90 days to go.. If I go to May 24th that is.. Eek it’s getting closer and I haven’t even started on the nursery yet.. we need to make a dump run.. and then move some things around to clear out the room.. It shouldn’t take that long, it’s just getting started that is a pain.

Also we took Noriko, our Ball Python, to the vet Monday.. She had not been eating and we were worried that she was ill. Turns out that Noriko is actually a Rico.. lol and he is in perfect health.. He was just doing his winter hibernation eating schedule thing that snakes do.. I am very glad that he is not sick I would have been sad if he was.. We had been using the wrong bedding for both snakes, turns out all they need is newspaper, the woodchip bedding dries them out and leads to a bad shed.. so that will save us some money, and make clean up easier.. He is looking much happier these days. I’ll post some pictures later of the snakes..
Hope all you readers have a great week..

7 things to know about being pregnant

2011-02-18T13:56:00.000-05:00

1. Not everyone gets morning sickness.. and not everyone gets it in the morning… I was lucky enough to be in the no morning sickness category and I feel real bad for those who get it.. It has to suck always puking. I had very little appetite but I was never sick.

2. You’re not "eating for 2” as they say. I couldn't eat double what I ate pre pregnancy if I tried.. Hell I can barely eat the same amount. If I did happen to get a huge meal into my stomach I could probably count to 5 before it was all over the table in front of me. Don’t even get me started on heart burn. I never had it before I got pregnant and now Tums are my best friend.. I’ve gone through countless bottles.

3. Your sleeping habits will change drastically.. and not just because you are exhausted and having to get up to pee every few hours.. It’s nearly impossible for me to get comfortable and I constantly have to move around.. Also they say it's best to sleep on your left side, because if you sleep on your back or your right side the baby can crush your organs and stuff but if you happen to sleep in one of those positions your body will make you move if you start to loos feeling or if your organs are in distress so don't stress about it.

4. People will treat you with kindness even when you are not asking for it.. I have had people let me cut in front of them in line at restaurants, bathrooms and not to mention how many doors get held for me.. It’s pretty nice.. Too bad it won’t last..

5. Pregnancy brain is real.. REAL I tell you.. I can’t tell you how many times I have caught myself putting dirty dishes in the cabinets and cereal in the fridge.. It’s a bit ridiculous. I can’t remember anything these days. I have taken writing notes down at work to a whole new level.

6. Cravings are no joke.. I used to laugh at what my friends craved.. until I had one. Mostly I crave Juice, and lots of it but lately I have been craving Mochi and grapefruits.. At least I’m not craving Slurpee's or something super fattening.

7. Enjoy It. I can’t stress this enough. I feel like the last 6 months have flown by, and I am trying to remember all the things I was feeling back when I was first starting to feel pregnant.. Now that I can feel Osiris really move in there and I get a little worried when he’s not that active I wish I had kept more notes and things about what I was going through. Luckily I did take belly pictures though.

This is 25wks 4 days.. and I still have 3 more months to go.. Wanna take bets on how much bigger the old belly is going to get???

Happy Valentines Day!

2011-02-14T12:31:00.001-05:00

So It's Valentines Day again.. Rich and I fully intend on keeping up with our new tradition, as of last year that is, of going to the Wegmans Sushi bar for dinner and a glass of wine, only without the wine, and raw sushi.. I wish I could have just one piece of the raw fish.. so yummy.. I might have to sneak a bite of one piece. lol I fully plan on eating some mochi though. I love love love love mochi..

I got some crafting time in over the weekend. In honor of Valentiens Day I made some cute little rose brooches for some of the ladies I work with.. Just a little "thanks for being you and just know you are appreciated" gift from me to them.. They didnt take any time at all, and turned out super cute. They are just the type of craft I love, takes very little time and I can complete it in front of the TV. lol

So anyway, I hope you get to spend today with someone you love and that appreciates you as much as you deserve. Happy Valentines Day Everyone!

Ps. I almost forgot! I have only 99 days left to go before we get to meet our little guy, assuming I go all the way to May 24th.. He's been moving like crazy in there.. and my belly is getting bigger by the day.. We've just completed our regestry and thanks to my amazing Mom and Sisters the baby shower is planned.. I might be just a bit more excited to see my Mom than to go to the shower lol.. It's been a long time!

Finally!

2011-01-31T14:10:00.000-05:00

So last night Rich and I were watching a move, Pi; which by the way is both interesting and disturbing all at the same time; and I could feel little Osi practicing his Muy Thai in my belly so I told Rich to put his hand on my belly.. About 5 minutes later Osiris kicked, and finally after weeks of me being able to feel him Rich finally felt him kick.. It was very exciting..

I can not wait till his movements are stronger.. It's only a matter of time, and he will be keeping me up instead of letting me sleep before his arrival in May..

Half Way there....

2011-01-07T12:48:00.001-05:00

So I'm at 20 weeks this week, well as of Tuesday actually.. I'm fully in maternity wear, and I have to say, it is much more comfortable that non maternity wear. It's hard to believe that in 20 weeks I'll be holding little Osiris in my arms...

Now as promised: taken from Wikipedia

Osiris was an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the Afterlife, the underworld and the dead. Osiris was not only a merciful judge of the dead in the afterlife, but also the underworld agency that granted all life, including sprouting vegetation and the fertile flooding of the Nile River. He is described as the "Lord of love""He Who is Permanently Benign and Youthful" and the "Lord of Silence".

He is classically depicted as a green-skinned man with a Pharaoh's beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs, wearing a distinctive crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side, and holding a symbolic crook and flail.

Hope you all had a good New Year and that your 2011 brings as much love and excitement as mine is sure.

Baby Announcement!

2010-12-27T16:09:00.000-05:00

Well, we had a pretty big appointment on the 23rd just in time for Christmas.. Rich and I had our 2nd trimester anatomy scan. What a long ordeal, and the whole having to have a full bladder! Oh geeze I had to pee so bad by the time we got back there I had to ask the Tech if I could go to the bathroom because she was pressing so hard to get a look at the baby that I almost lost it on the table! Well the Baby is doing great! It's measuring a full week bigger than I actually am.. I don't know yet if that will change the due date or not we will have to wait till the next appointment for that one. Our little one was quite comfortable in there and was facing my back the entire time.. We saw the kidneys, bladder, all 4 ventricles of the heart as well as the brain. it was amazing. Part of the way though the ultrasound I had to go walk the halls to get the baby to turn around so that they could check the face, lips, nose etc. It's truly amazing how they can see all that stuff.. Once the baby was turned over it had it's hands over it's face, I guess it really didn't want to be bothered! but eventually the Tech got what she needed. Rich and I got to see the baby Yawn in there. It was so adorable..
They even let the kids in to see the ultrasound, which they loved!

So we did decide to find out the sex of the baby...

It's a BOY! Yay! He was not shy about showing off his little wee wee.. lol Now it's just a matter of time.. We've picked the name Osiris Wisdom.. We can call him Osi for short. Like the football player.. Later this week I will post the meaning of Osiris in case you are wondering where we got it from. Rich and I are quite excited, and now that I can feel him in there moving around it's even more amazing. I can not wait until Rich can feel him too. Well that's it for now.. Hope everyone had a good Holiday! Talk to you next year!

A little long overdue Craftiness!

2010-12-27T15:47:00.000-05:00

So despite my neglect of this blog, I have been doing some sewing lately.. I made some super cute flex frame pouches thanks to the tutorial at Pink Penguin to give to some dear friends. I have two more ready to finish, I just have to sew the pleats and sew them together and they are done. So I'll probably finish those up this week.

I find it much more difficult to sit at my sewing table on the bar stool being pregnant. so I can only sew for about an hour at a time. I have to get up and do something else for a while and get sidetracked.. Ahhh Pregnancy brain.

Im pretty sure I'm going to be huge!

2010-12-06T14:17:00.000-05:00

So this is just over 15 weeks.. Can we say big?! Honestly I didn't realize how pregnant I really looked until I took this horrid picture with my cellphone to show my Mom..Granted I was no a skinny mini to begin with but the hubby says I definitely look preggers now. lol. I guess from now on I will have to make sure to not look so haggard.. I haven't gained any weight yet.. Just got back to my weight when I got pregnant so that's good! but I cant button my pants so thanks to the Belly Band and my pal Rachel for giving me hers, I don't have to button them..

Ugh. this picture is so bad... Im going to have to take a better one next month.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T11:20:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving friends!

I thought I would share 7 things Im thankful for today

1. A loving husband that can always make me smile..
2. A great Family that even if we aren't together still takes the time to call...
3. This little bun in my oven, I cant wait to meet him/her in May.
4. Having a Job that is closed on black Friday so I don't have to even leave the house!
5. True friends that understand that even if I don't call very often I am still thinking of them.
6. My step-kids.. who after some coaxing are always willing to help me out.. for a little bit anyway...
7. My in-laws that are constantly reminding my husband to not let me work so hard.. lol

I hope you all have something to be thankful for too..

I'm so Crafty...

2010-11-22T14:56:00.000-05:00

I make people! That’s right folks, I can finally share the big news Rich and I are expecting our own little bundle of jiggling cuteness.. We just told his kids over the weekend and tomorrow is the start of my 4th month so we are officially out of the danger zone. We weren’t exactly planning it right now (darn those antibiotics, it’s true what they say about taking them while on birth control) , but I have to say the timing could not be more perfect if I wanted it to be. I won’t be super pregnant in the hot hot summer and I won’t be about to pop in the middle of winter with the dangers of a snow storm keeping us from the hospital… Our little one is due May 24th… Rich and I have decided to find out if we are having a boy or a girl… Mostly because If the doctor knows I want to know, and I don’t want a room of green and yellow.. I think it will be better for Rich’s kids to know also. They won’t have to call it “the baby” for the next 6 months. And Rich and I can stop calling it “Negotiated” lol… We call it Negotiated because we have an agreement to only have one baby, since he already has two and I wanted like 4 we settled on 1 for us.

I’ve had a remarkably good pregnancy thus far (knock on wood). I didn’t have any morning sickness at all aside from the day before I took the test... I have, however, had wicked indigestion, which I never had before. I must tell you that I wouldn’t wish it on anyone I hate it. I have been going to the bathroom about three times a night already but haven’t had any problems with constipation (sorry if that’s too much info but I read so much about women having that problem). I think that’s mostly because I pretty much crave Grapes and apple juice every day, but hey there are worse things I could be craving… Oh and the thought of eating Chicken breasts makes me want to hurl. I cannot stand the texture of it, so mostly I’ve been eating ground meats, if I have any meats at all. I have missed sushi though; California rolls are not cutting it anymore!

I look forward to every doctor’s appointment, I can’t wait to meet the little person that is already making my pants too tight and causing me to implement the rubber band button closure. I’m really trying to avoid the maternity clothes as long as possible, I think that they will make me look way frumpy, and frankly they do not have any Plus size maternity clothes that don’t look like a tent of sorts… So we will see how that goes.. I have a little bump, but mostly I just look bloated, so no pictures just yet, but I will show the belly once I fully have it.

So that's why I've not been around lately.. Im had other more exciting things on my mind!

Ps.. the image is from MuthaCrafter on etsy.. She has a lot of super cute things..

M.I.A.

2010-11-11T15:29:00.000-05:00

Hello all my friends in Blogland.. I've been missing in action lately and I apologize. I have not had many opportunities to be very crafty lately and there has been a lot of changes happening. More on that later though... I just wanted to tell you all I'm sorry for the neglect and I promise to do something crafty soon..

Until Next time my Crafty friends..

Fun with Paint Pens!

2010-09-25T20:52:00.000-04:00

So as I'm sure most of you did... I saw this on How About Orange and thought that it was just to cute.. seeing as abstract painting is my speciality this was right up my ally. I found the images on shutterstock and did it the same way Jessica said to... Can I just say how much I love graphite paper.. I forgot how awesome it was.

One Slack Mind.

2010-09-20T19:49:00.000-04:00

So It just occurred to me that I had never ever posted anything about my Husband's band OneSlackMind... they have been around since before I was in his life. He is the lead vocals, and his own hype man..They are awesome...

This is one of my favorite songs he has.. It's called Customize... and the best line ever "I got a girl that loves to customize" because I DO!

A great new website

2010-09-16T07:29:00.000-04:00

Tasteologie .. It's awesome, Thank's Craft for bringing it to our attention!

Tattoo cool

2010-09-15T18:52:00.000-04:00

So I want these, big time! If you ever want to buy me 100 rolls that would be awesome...

Available at Rockett St George.

In Remberance

2010-09-11T09:51:00.000-04:00

Discoveries in sewing...

2010-08-25T18:55:00.003-04:00

Elastic thread does not work at all in the Brother se350 sewing machine.. I think it's because of the drop in Bobbin... No bobbin tension to adjust.. At least not that I've discovered.. ~sad face~ It sucks because I have such cute ideas of stuff to sew with it...

Oh well.. Live and learn.. On to baby elastic..

Professionals make all the difference..

2010-08-19T12:03:00.001-04:00

So on Tuesday I had some professional Portraits done.. they turned out fantastically. Normally I would not post pictures of me in my undies online I decided that they are just too damn good to not share, and while I will not be showing all of them, I will show you some of the ones are are not really revealing.

I used Scott Church for the Photographer.I wish I could have him walk around photoshopping me all the time... . He is seriously awesome. If you ever want glamour photos done for your hubby, or wife, or whatever call him. He is has super reasonable prices and is super talented.. I've never looked so good or felt more comfortable in front of a stranger nude.. :) Go check out his website. He has an amazing collection of his work.. It's amazing..

I love this Commercial..

2010-08-04T15:29:00.003-04:00

Okay so they are all hilarious.. But seriously I love this one... "All Over this" lol I couldnt stop laughing the first time I saw it!

A little bit of Saturday cuteness.

2010-07-31T13:37:00.000-04:00

Look at these super cute shoes I got at the thrift store for only 9 bucks... I might love them. they are a tiny bit big but I got those heel foamy pad things to alleviate that problem. The best part... They are like new, not one sign of wear at all..

Out of Mind and Onto a Door

2010-07-26T20:07:00.000-04:00

Well not an actual door, a cabinet door.. In case you didn't know I sell cabinets by day and craft by night. I love painting, and with the job I have, I sometimes get a pretty good sized door with a flat panel that I can paint on and when it's all said and done I have a brand new panting without the hassle or cost of canvas and frames. I also love that the door is usually so smooth, it makes it so easy to paint on... Anyway, I ramble. With out further adieu I introduce you to "The Lotus"

It's has the word BREATHE in white pearl on the upper right side, I put it there to remind me to breathe when things are getting rough... I always intended this to be on my desk at work, I need to be reminded to breathe often there..

Ps.. You can see some of my other paintings on doors here

Cutest little Speaker EVAR!

2010-07-23T14:13:00.000-04:00

Today's Delight.com delight is truly delightful! Okay that was totally cheesy and uncalled for... but I had to do it.. How awesome is this speaker. It's rechargeable, has FM capability and is made of real wood.. It's just so adorable! I want it to magically appear on my desk sometime next week.

Changes again

2010-07-14T19:39:00.002-04:00

Read the post on Craftzine and decided a less busy layout background would be better.. What do you think about this one?

Ps. anybody know what happens if you change your address on blogger.. Like If I change it from Creativeshadesofred.blogspot.com to lotussooz.blogspot.com what happens if people go to the old one?

I write like...

2010-07-14T12:03:00.001-04:00

I write like
Stephen King

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

It's pretty fun, just copy and paste a blog post and it will tell you who you write like... I'll take Stephen King, he lives in Bangor near my mommy. :)

What do you think?

2010-07-14T08:13:00.001-04:00

Alright Ladies and Gents of Blog land... What do you think of the new layout? Is it too busy? Easy to read? Comments please, I want to make sure it's user friendly. Oh and I'm adding to the shop this weekend. I have some Old stuff to post and some new stuff..

Happy crafting!

I think we need this...

2010-07-10T10:45:00.003-04:00

Ladies, have you ever been so mad and frustrated that you want to take a baseball bat to the TV or break all your plates against the wall? I have, and if you're like me then I think a trip to China is in order. Why China you ask? because in Shenyang China there is a shopping mall that has opened a shop that is strictly for women... It's a store where the women of china can go and break stuff to vent out their frustrations. The store is broke up in two zones, living room and bedroom. For a fee each women has 1 minute to break anything they want. They have everything from TVs to cell phones.. You can even throw plates.. this site has the whole story. If you ask me this is a pretty novel idea. It could save relationships. You get super mad and want to punch someone for being a jerk... Go to the mall and rather than gorging on funnel cakes and ice cream you can spend a minute bashing in a TV or breaking glasses against the wall. I'd pay for that.

How fun does that look!

Happy 4th of July

2010-07-03T14:28:00.002-04:00

I made Danielle and I matching pinwheel brooch's using this tutorial from Betz White. I love her crafts. It only took me like 30 mintues to make both.

Happy 4th Friends. Take some time for craft's over the long weekend.

Fun fun...

2010-06-30T07:51:00.002-04:00

I found a very cool website called The Trendy Girl. It is in french but has a a button to pick your language at the top, which I found after looking at 4 pages in french. It has a lot of very cool things as well as links to purchase them if you choose. Pretty cool and worth the look.

Huge Sad face

2010-06-06T08:14:00.002-04:00

I won't be posting any pictures for a while, at least none of any quality. You see two weeks ago while Rich stepped out to go to Muy Thai practice for a hour some one broke into our house. An hour... He was gone and back in an hour... They didnt take much, but the feeling that someone was in our house uninvited is not a good feeling. They took our new flat screen TV, our Xbox, Wii, Digital Camera and my iPod docking station, and im not even mentioning all the video games they took.. Sheesh. The Police Officer said that with what they took it had to have been someone who knew what they wanted, AKA someone who had been here or knows someone who has been here. She also said that it was probably a kid, or young adult because they left many things that they probably didnt realize was worth more than what they took. That makes it even scarier. Luckly the house was not ransacked, and they didnt take anythign that is irreplaceable, just the video games, and new TV, that hurts the kids more than us, Rich and I dont play the games as much as they do. Needless to say we went right out and got wood for the windows and will be getting a security alarm.

On a more happy note, my girlfriends wedding was beautiful. She looked stunning and the reception was a blast of dancing and fun.

Untill next time my crafty friends. Stay safe.

Journal Cover

2010-05-23T13:52:00.003-04:00

I've had a hectic couple weeks, but I did manage to get a small amount of sewing in today, I made this fabric journal cover for my new book... I cut the fabric a little too big for the height of the book, but that's okay, you live and learn. I actually forgot to cut it down before I sewed it up... I have a bad habit of doing that. Oh well.. Maybe I'll fix it. I might be able to fit a pencil in the extra space though, that might be convenient. I've got a wedding next week to go to, but hopefully I'll have more time for creativity later in the month.

Happy Crafting friends!

Red Dahlia...

2010-05-11T07:50:00.004-04:00

Made this while the kids slept Saturday night using this tutorial on holidash. It's so cute, and easy to make... I used binder clips to hold the petals in shape while the glue set, and used my glue gun to glue the petals onto the base because I'm impatient and wanted to be able to wear it sooner.. It took just about 2 hours to make. I'm pretty sure I will be making one in every color imaginable now.

Happy Mothers Day!

2010-05-09T07:27:00.002-04:00

This is my new tattoo... Dottie G is my Mom.. She taught me everything I know about sewing and is pretty awesome...

Happy mothers day to all you Moms and future Moms out there in Blog land..

Hoodie Refashion..

2010-04-25T11:47:00.002-04:00

So I saw on Martha Stewart a hoodie refashion ... I loved the sleeves, but decided to change the hood too since I never wear the hood.. I love it, I think it turned out great.. Thoughts??

7 things you didn't know about me... Maybe.

2010-04-23T07:45:00.003-04:00

I was reading one of my favorite blogs Color Me Katie and she posted a few interesting tidbits that most of her readers probably didn't know about her. I love when our fellow bloggers do this.. It really lets you know that someone is on the other end of the Internet.. Also it's nice to see the crazy things people have done or been accused of... SO since I tend to post things in 7's here are 7 things you didn't know about me... Maybe.

1. I love office supplies, any office supplies, pens, paperclips, post-it's and even staplers. I'm still waiting for that Red Swingline stapler to magically appear on my desk... I want one so bad!

2. When I was a kid it seemed like my birthday January 20th, was a national holiday because it is so close to Martin Luther King Jr. Day. and we almost always had it off school. I still to this day take it off work because it is after all my special day... another tidbit about my birthday is it is the same as Jared Leto, Rainn Wilson, and George Burns.. I also know 3 people with the same birthday.

3.The night my Husband first told me he loved me was at a very loud Fear Factory, and Slipknot Concert at Nation in DC. He then proceeded to tell everyone on the Metro on the way home how awesome I was and how much he loved me, including a very nice elderly couple, that I happened to see a few months later and they remembered the incident and were very interested to find out how the relationship was going.. It makes me smile every time I think about it. I wish I had a picture of it.

4.I long to be one of those people that carries around their camera with them and takes pictures of life as it happens. Unfortunately I always forget to bring my camera places with me. I really need to get one of those slim line cameras that I can just keep in my purse.

5.I drink entirely too much coffee. In a day I drink almost a whole pot at work and then some at night too.. Luckily I also drink an extraordinary amount of water throughout the day so I'm not just hydrating with caffeine, although I sometimes wish I could just I.V. it straight to the bloodstream. Oh and did I mention that I can fall right to sleep even after a large amount of coffee..

6. When I was a kid I loved Hewey Lewis and the News and The Beach Boys.. I still do. It was my Mom and I's road trip music.

7. I have a huge birthmark on my leg that is lighter than the rest of me. In the winter you can barely see it, but when I start to get a little tan it stays lighter, it's kinda the shape of Australia, I have to get a picture of it one day.

Wow that was a fast 7, I could tell you 7 more things probably, but I'll save that for another day. Hope you all have a fan freaking tabilous weekend.

Till next time my crafty friends.. Stay creative, you all inspire me!

Without further Adeau!

2010-04-18T12:49:00.006-04:00

My Simple Sling Bag.. This is the tutorial that I submitted to One Yard Wonders... If they don't pick it I'll post a tutorial.. I love how the vintage thrift store sheets matched the outer shell fabric so nicely.. and I also decided that I HATE Nylon thread.. Quilting this bag took forever because I had to keep rethreading my machine

This was my attempt of a clutch that could be used for a night out or just a quick shopping trip... I was going to make another tutorial for the One Yard Wonders book but I didn't finish it in time... The back of the clutch is the same fabric as the flap. I like it okay, it's a little lop sided but I fixed that when I redrafted the pattern.

And while I type this entry I am sitting in my kitchen defrosting the freezer for the repair man tomorrow.. I am surrounded by the sound of a hairdryer, sitting on a shelf on the freezer defrosting the coils in the back.. It's almost done now.. thank god.

Like Sand through the Hour Glass.

2010-04-11T16:03:00.003-04:00

At 3:15pm on Sunday and this is pretty much the first time all weekend that the house is silent. The kids have been fantastic, Rich has been busy, he was out working his first day of reffing this year, and had his first two football games (which he won both games of by the way)... So I've been busy, cleaning, cooking, yard work, entertaining the little ones, It's been a productive and good weekend. Now I'm sitting here watching Julie & Julia and it reminded me that it's been a little too long since I've had a chance to stop by and say hi... I forget sometimes that there might be someone out there actually intrested in what I have going on in my life other than me.. LOL I get so excited to hear from you and your thoughts on me and my little world I call my family. I have two new bags I have made and have yet to post any pictures. Thats due in large part because I have not been able to locate the camera... It's getting to the point of trying to take pictures with the mac.

Rich and I had out two year anniversary on the 29th... Two years. I somtimes forget that I have not known him all my life.. I got him tickets to the Washingotn Wizards game, they won.. YAY! It was more fun than I expected it to be. But that might just be becasue they won the. He got me a killer pair of shoes, Nike Air Nxy. They have red, yellow and green striped laces. I love them. Ha also made me a pair of earings and a necklace, and it getting me a tattoo.. I am so excited to get this next one.. I cant wait.. But I have nearly a month, a month that will undoubtly go by increadibly slow. I know exactly where and what I'm getting. But you'll have to wait to see.

Anyway.. that's all for now. I will do my best to get pictures of some sort up by tomorrow night... Thanks for reading.

till next time my Crafty friends.

Marleys New Video Game

2010-04-01T20:03:00.001-04:00

Play Game

Make a Free Flash Game

Marley made this game all by himself. Pretty cool kid.

If only there were 30 hours in the day.

2010-03-13T19:44:00.004-05:00

And I only needed 3 hours of sleep to live.

Lately I have been really really stressed out at work. It never fails, I start a project, or get a boost of inspiration, and work takes over my evenings as well as my days.. On the upside I have had many awesome thoughts of crafty ideas floating around in my head that I just need to get them down on paper. Not to mention the One Yard Wonders 2 book I need to finish my submission for. I'm really not sure what exactly I want to submit, but I have a good idea. I'm thinking of submitting my last purse design, I'm thinking it should be called The Simple Sling... Being because it's pretty simple to make and it's a sling bag..

Anyone have any tips on sewing with invisible thread? Quilting really for the sling bag. I was able to do the first one but on the new one I'm working on the thread keeps breaking and I'm getting annoyed. I had to stop making it so that I wouldn't ruin the fabric.

Anyway.. thats all for now. Sorry for the short post like I said work is crazy right now and I havent had time to work out at all let alone craft..

Till next time my crafty friends.

I love this picture

2010-03-08T13:31:00.002-05:00

Even back then I had attitude... LOL

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

2010-03-05T15:32:00.003-05:00

Today is a very special day... It is my Daddy's 64th birthday.. Happy Birthday Dad.. Hope you have many many more. I love you!

PS. This picture is from my wedding but he still looks the same.. I think he looks damn good for a senior citizen!

Sewing is fun!

2010-03-01T18:10:00.004-05:00

Especially when you end up with this!

I love love love this fabric.. I quilted it with fusible fleece to give the material more body... And of course the lining is a vintage sheet.. This is my prototype, so I'll be using it to decide what to change when I make it again.. I already know that one of the interior pockets is too wide, so I'll be making the next one with 4 smaller pockets. I like the way it turned out.. The fusible fleece was a Godsend for this bag.. I love the more structured look, but it's still totally washable which is a must for me!

Oh and I need a name.. Any ideas?

Till next time my crafty friends... Stay creative.

Lookie What I found...

2010-02-27T11:53:00.003-05:00

I was looking for some intresting sewing pins to get and stumbled upon The Blue Daily there are tons of super cute notions in the store.. Not to mention that Art Fire seems to me a handmade marketplace kinda like Etsy but different. Im loving these pins:

SO CUTE!

PS. Thanks to all you new readers... I'm thinking of doing a giveaway in honor of all of you.. Stay posted while I decide what crafty goodness to give away..

Things I've Done

2010-02-26T15:00:00.002-05:00

I cant remember exactly where I say this.. I think it was over on 24-7-365 (I follow her so go check out her blog.. there is a link over there on the left) a while ago.. I found the copy of the list on my computer the other day, so here I am sharing my experiences with you. If Ive done it It's bold...

1. Started your own blog *Duh*
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band *I count 6th grade band, we had a recital*
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (also Disney world)
8. Climbed a mountain *in Hawaii*
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo *if you count bad karaoke*
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child *do animals count as children?*
16. Had food poisoning *right before Christmas two years ago.. my dear Husband mad me dinner*
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors *only if you count Hawaii even though it's Japan I guess*
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie *not a real in the theater movie but a movie nonetheless*
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy *I still have my Lolly Dolly*
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Almost exactly Half.. Hmm maybe I need to expand my horizons... What kinds of things have you done?

Bottle Tops

2010-02-18T14:35:00.005-05:00

I'm pretty sure whom ever came up with this idea is a genius. Seriously I saw them in CVS and was like "WOW what a good idea!" I told my Mom about them and she agreed and went to the store and bought a set, and sent half to me (comes in a 12 pack). They are great, seriously great. I am a very slow soda drinker, so I don't always drink a whole one. I can put the can in the fridge with out worrying that it's going to spill. It's also great for the Kiddos, and for the car (seeing as my car has no cup holders and I end up putting drinks between the break and the passenger seat). I recommend them, it will be the best 10 bucks you ever spent. Bottle Tops can be purchased here or at most stores that have "As seen on TV" stuff. I've seen them at Wal-Mart and CVS to name a few.

Home Made Valentines

2010-02-17T18:40:00.003-05:00

This is the card I made Rich for Valentines day... It was pretty simple. I took a bunch of pictures with the web cam of me making funny kissy faces, did a little retouching, turned them in to B&W, placed them into powerpoint so I could make them print like photo booth pictures. A little glue and TA-DA! He loved it. Of course he loved it, whats not to love... ♥

Happy crafting my Crafty Friends!

Modge Podge Madness

2010-02-17T18:37:00.002-05:00

Okay so not really madness per-se but still... I put more things on the sketchbook and podged the clothespins..

Thats one Crazy icicle

2010-02-17T18:33:00.001-05:00

Seriously that thing is like 7' long.. no joke.

Blog Badges and Buttons..

2010-02-16T20:33:00.003-05:00

You might have noticed some new additions to the blog today... I was over at Modge Podge Rocks and decided that Modge Podge does in fact Rock and I wanted to advertise her Blog because Amy Anderson's blog also Rocks... Her blog led me to Just Something I Made and I noticed all these wonderful badges and buttons that Cathe Holden as up on her blog, complete with instruction on how to add them.. It's quite nice of her to share her talents and blogging knowledge with the blogging community. I know I appreciate it greatly. So take some time to go visit with these two blogs I'm sure you will find tons on interesting stuff there, I know I did.

Now Im off to Modge Podge my clothespins and sketch book.. I decided to increase the madness.. I figured why the heck not.. Im going to go crazy on that sketch book.. lol Stay tuned my crafty friends...

Hope you are having an inspiring week.

Sketchbook Cover

2010-02-14T14:30:00.003-05:00

I got a new sketchbook the other day.. I was going to sew a nice cover but instead I just glued some fabric on the thick paper cover..If I had some Modge Podge it would have been better, but I didn't so I used Tacky Glue mixed with water... I'll probably paint some designs on it after it dries maybe add more fabric I don't really know.. It's a little wild in terms of what is on it but I let the kids pick out what went on it.. I like it.

Oh right now Danielle is writing a song.. the line right now is "Don't let Anybody tell you that you're not strong enough!" quite the insight for an 8 year old.. We've taught this girl well.

Where the Magic Happens

2010-02-14T14:20:00.005-05:00

The cubes are those wire things you can get at Target for around 17 bucks and A friend of Mine gave me the door that it on top of it.. It's a secretary flip down door so it has leather on the top.. Nicey nice.. The Desk area itself are a few cabinets I rescued from the dumpster at work and a I got the laminate top made on the cheap.. You can buy premade laminate tops at Lowes or Home Depot too.. It works well for me, although I wish I had a nice stool to sit on.. One day.

Crafty Weekend..

2010-02-14T14:11:00.004-05:00

It's been a crafty weekend in my house.. Look at all the stuff I've made.

A Valentine Mail box for Danielle... I burnt my finger really bad on the hot glue gun.. But it was worth it. Look how cute it is.

Some pretty clothespins.. Using sticky back paper for scrap booking... I'm going to put these in the shop later... Maybe I'll do a giveaway... What do you think?

PS. Happy Valentines Day!

Adding a little personality to the blog.

2010-02-10T13:44:00.005-05:00

Got this signature from My Live Signature. It's a pretty neat site. You can choose from one of their fonts or draw your own. You can add it to your formatting in your blog so that it automatically shows up at the end of each post. Pretty neat. Did I mention that it's free and you don't even have to sign up? Oh yeah that's what I call awesome.

PS. It's still snowing. I'll get some more pictures loaded after a while. Hope you are all having a great week.

Update.. Here are the snow pictures:

Wanna hear a secret?

2010-02-10T10:49:00.002-05:00

It's snowing.. again... Okay so it's not really a secret but it is ridiculous. We already have another 6 or 7 inches and thats on top of the 24 we got over the weekend.. Sheesh!

Day 3.. SNOW SNOW SNOW

2010-02-08T16:59:00.005-05:00

So today I did two projects... Another Tin Can sleeve...

And Steggie from One Yard Wonders.. Cute No???

PS: They are saying another 6-8 inches tomorrow night... I can not believe the amount of snow we have gotten this winter!

Blizzard Project Day 2

2010-02-08T07:07:00.004-05:00

Day two.. I thought some organizing was in order. I have been keeping my colored pencils in the same box they came in for like 15 years... Sad that I haven't needed new ones yet but they were expensive and I like saving them for special projects.. So since Rich made us Chili for dinner we had a bunch of cans laying around... in the recycling bin... I grabbed 3 of them, I wanted to use 4 but we only had 3 that were the same size... I sewed together some lovely scraps of different colors and sewed linen on the top and bottom. I lined it in all in a vintage sheet.. and sewed it together in a tube and slid it around the cans.. Oh yeah I hot glued the cans together to hold them in the lovely triangle shape.. and TA DA! A three cup Pencil holder... I separated the pencils into color groups... Pretty huh? I think so!

I don't really like how you can see the cans, more specifically the hot glue on the middle so I might use some of the pattern paper I have to cover the cans then put the fabric back. It's not glued so it can be changed out easily.. it's snug but not too tight.

I have a big kidney bean can to make somthign with later.

This is me. At 6am... That's the face I make when my Job is open and they expect us to drive into work when the NEWS describes the roads as treacherous... I took Liberal Leave, and decided to spend my morning watching Nim's Island.. Later a little cleaning and then more sewing is in order. I should probably water that little tree thing behind me.. It looks thirsty.

Here is the grill after a day of no snow.. I should probably shovel the deck too.. It took me two hours to dig out the car yesterday man am I sore..

BLIZZARD of 2010

2010-02-06T14:34:00.004-05:00

We are having a Blizzard.. 24 inches of snow and still falling.. I'm getting ready to go shovel again..

Here is the grill this morning around 10am..

And here is it at around 2:30pm

And while the snow fell I made this....

Fabric Fabric everywhere...

2010-02-02T15:25:00.003-05:00

With so many possibilities!

I bought these 5 prints just after i bought the One Yard Wonders book.. Oh the things that I can make. It's so exciting! I ♥ them all. Some will be baby gifts for a friend from work that is expecting soon, and the rest.... Well if I could turn 4 yards into 100 I would be making everything! as it stands I have my eye on a purse and a few of the organizing projects in there. Stay tuned!

PS. 3 posts in one day all about crafts.. YAY ME!

My Brother is AWESOME!

2010-02-02T15:08:00.003-05:00

♥He made me this awesome sewing box, by hand, for Christmas. How cool is that! It holds everything. I used some smallish boxes I had to hold things in the bottom compartment... He tricked me and asked me to make the pin cushion. Told me to pick out fabric that would work with dark wood, so I picked out some of my favorite toile, and low and behold it was for me! He's a stinker. But the best brother ever. That little squiggle on the back is my Family's brand from Hawaii from when my Grandfather used to own cattle (I'm thinking tattoo!). I told him if he made more we could sell them so if you want one let me know so I can prove it to him. He didn't believe that people would buy them from him. ♥

And this little guy I made using this tutorial when I was a little bored a few weeks ago.. So freaking adorable. I can see myself getting addicted to pin cushions.

Oh the Joys of easy Projects!

2010-02-02T15:01:00.003-05:00

I made these oh so cute fabric fortune cookies to use as valintines for a few of my favorate girls.. Ladies act surprised when you get them on V-day... I also needed an excuse to use more of the Amy Butler fabric squares I ordered a while back.. They were super easy to make using Lady Harvatine's Tutorial... I think I made all 9 in under an hour. I'm stoked at how cute they are. Now to make the fortunes, I cant decide if I want to print them on fabric and sew them to the cookies with ribbon or not.. We'll have to see.

Cha cha cha changes!

2010-01-27T21:58:00.004-05:00

I tend to take the easy way out sometimes and only post funny things I see on other blogs.. Well I decided this is useless because if I see there, you probably do too. I'm going to try my hardest to post more of my sewing projects. and more random things in my life. I have family all over the place from Japan to Maine to Hawaii and I think that this blog would be more useful and enjoyed if it focused on me and my family here in Virginia. Besides wouldn't you rather read a few posts a month than a daily post of nonsense? I sure would... That being said my newest love, One Yard Wonders, is my new bible. I have taken the time to pre cut out all the patterns and label them in their own envelopes so when I see something I want to make all I have to do is pull the envelope and start sewing. Easy Peasy. I am really trying to sew, and craft more. I feel so much more relaxed and happy when I get to use my creative energy for something instead of sitting around watching the boob tube. I am a big fan of sewing and painting projects that take very little time. I have to work it start to finish in one sitting or it seems to take forever to finish.

Now if I could only find a job teaching kids to sew... How fun would that be!

Another year passes.

2010-01-21T22:21:00.002-05:00

As of yesterday I am offically 32 years old. Rich made me dinner and the kiddos helped. It was a good day. A special thanks to my hubby for everything he did for me. He's the best.

That is all.

Marley's Kenex Coaster!

2010-01-03T11:34:00.005-05:00

Marley Got the Kenex Coaster for Christmas. We put it together and here it is in action.. Pretty cool I think..

One Yard Wonders

2010-01-03T11:29:00.002-05:00

So I bought myself the One Yard Wonders Book And this is my first project. I made it entirely out of scraps But it's wicked cute. This book is a must have!

20 Minute Shrug Tutorial.

2010-01-03T10:43:00.007-05:00

Okay From the start I said this Blog was going to have tutorials so here is my first ever real tutorial...

I know when I am at home the one thing that is always cold are my arms.. Some times a sweatshirt or fleece is just too warm... This shrug is my solution to the problem and it couldn't be any easier... All the hems are optional, it takes only about 20 minutes to make.

Materials needed
Fleece. The amount depends on your measurements. I made this one for Danielle so I only needed 15” of a standard width bolt.
Thread
Sewing Machine
Step 1:

Measure the length from finger tip to finger tip, add 2 inches. This is the width of fabric you will need.
Measure the around the biggest part of your arm, add 4 inches. This is the length of fabric you will need.
Measure the distance from the tip of your finger to just before your arm pit. This is the length you will sew from the end of the with toward the center of the material on both sides.
The area of your fabric that is not sewn should be slightly wider than your back.
Step 2:
Sew (by hand or with your machine) the length from the end to the center, In my case it was only about 14 inches.
Step 3:
Fold the edge of the fabric down in the area where the shrug goes over your back, and sew down, this is optional since fleece wont fray. Also at this time hem the sleeves, again Optional since fleece wont fray
Step 4:
Try on your new arm warming shrug!!!

here is Danielle in hers.. Cute huh?

Happy Holidays

2009-12-24T12:22:00.003-05:00

I hope that everyone out there in the blog world has a great holiday weekend whatever you are celebrating...

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, and Merry Festivus!

Babies!

2009-12-22T12:41:00.001-05:00

Evian Live Young - Baby Roller
Uploaded by yom_. - Watch more comedy videos and sitcoms.

HOLY SNOW!

2009-12-20T11:21:00.003-05:00

This is the awesomeness that we had this weekend. Almost 2 feet of snow, it's beautiful but a pain when we cant get out to do anything. Our friend Gwenn has been here since Friday because the roads are so bad. We'll dig her out after a while because she is so ready to leave.

I got some gifts wrapped. I'm working on Rich's gift now and then I have some cleaning to do. Hope you all have had a great weekend.

What a great Weekend

2009-12-06T15:48:00.005-05:00

Danielle and I decorated the tree and did some crafting for Christmas.. So much fun..

It snowed!

A tree fell in the backyard.

And we made candy canes to hang on the tree. Over all a pretty darn good weekend.

Did you know...

2009-12-03T08:02:00.003-05:00

There are 56 ethnic groups in China. The majority of Chinese are Han Chinese. The Chinese tried to show them all during the opening ceremonies of the last Olympic games with a parade of 56 children dressed in traditional clothing for their group. But after the parade it was later revealed that the children were all Han Chinese children wearing the ethnic clothing of the other groups. There is a great photo collection of the ethnic groups in their traditional clothes and with their tools and suck.. it's pretty interesting to see the differences in their appearance. Check it out here.

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-24T15:05:00.004-05:00

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving.. Eat lot's of pie and turkey and take the rest of the week off. Oh and to those of you braving the black Friday shopping maddness... well you're nuts! GOOD LUCK!

Dancers in flight...

2009-11-12T15:34:00.004-05:00

Richard Calmes is an amazing photographer that did a series of photos of dancers in mid air... The pictures are beautiful.. check them out here, along with all his other galleries.

Everyone loves a ridiculous moustache!

2009-11-06T06:36:00.006-05:00

No one more than me.. Go here to play this little time waisting game.. The names of the types of moustashes is particularly funny.

I love Skulls

2009-10-30T07:48:00.003-04:00

This one is pretty cool. Laser engraved on dollar bills. This guy Scott Campbell is pretty talented. See more of his stuff at Who Killed Bambi .

Vampire Fun...

2009-10-29T13:49:00.003-04:00

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

10K photos..

2009-10-29T07:58:00.003-04:00

too bad it like $60 bucks to buy digitial prints!

I did it!

2009-10-26T10:40:00.003-04:00

I did the 10K yesterday and Rocked it.. Just look at my time! Not to shabby for my first 10K... I got a Marathon Photo taken with my running buddies and will post it as soon as it is available.

Walmart How I love thee~

2009-10-15T08:00:00.005-04:00

So People Of Wal-Mart is totally my new favorite Internet obsession. It's a picture site dedicated to the awesomeness that are the customers of Wal-Mart. Some of the pictures are ridiculous. Seriously you have to check it out.. These three pictures are just a few of the awesome examples of what you will find on the site. I almost fell of my seat laughing.

A few other great ones are listed on the side bar there... I added a whole category just for funny picture sites because we all need some time away form work sometime.

It's almost here...

2009-10-12T15:46:00.003-04:00

Race day.. I am a mere week and 5 days from my first ever 10K. Training has proved difficult, but I persevere. I've hit the gym almost 5 days a week and been doing a lot of jogging. Amazingly enough I went from not being able to jog a 1/4 mile to being able to jog almost 3. I'm so proud of my self. I've also lost almost 30 pounds! YAY ME! One thing that I always notice when I lose weight is that even at a 30 pound weight loss I haven't really gotten that smaller; more toned and tighter yes, but smaller no. I kind of expected it to be more noticeable, but I suppose it's okay. I have 20 more to go.

I feel like I have made a true life change, I now WANT to go to the gym and am actually excited about it. Yesterday I had to go get new running shoes because my other ones were just not quite right. I don't expect to jog the entire 6.2 miles but I'm going to try and run as much as I can. run, walk, run, walk, run... that's the plan. I'll be sure to let you know how I do on the race. I've given my race buddy instruction to not let me walk too much. She'll make sure I'm going at top speed.

Need a transfusion???

2009-09-27T08:48:00.004-04:00

Or maybe just more energy?? This energy drink, available in 2010 looks like blood and even comes in an I.V. bag... It's gross and cool all at the same time.. Would be perfect for a Halloween party, and would go perfect with this .. Found it at Nerd Approved...