Why not make life crazier...

OK, as if I don't have enough to do between my full time teaching job, my part time tutoring job, being a mom and wife, and being me, I have decided to take part in Carla's challenges over at My Half Dozen Daily. I'm not 100% sure if I am doing both, just one, or maybe I'll decide it's just not possible to do either. But I'm going to try! So excuse the break from crafting (I'll still post some projects and layouts), and enjoy my journey through the month of February. I'll be back later with some specific goals once I learn more about the challenges.

Winter Wreath Project

I have another quick and simple project to share today. I had made a Christmas wreath, but I figured it had to come down with the rest of the Christmas decorations. I didn't have another wreath to put up, so it was time I made one! I started with a basic styrofoam wreath frame that I picked up at a craft store. I also got some pretty blue yarn that I thought worked well for winter. I wrapped and wrapped and wrapped until the whole wreath was covered. I liked the effect, but I didn't love it, so I took some pretty silver ribbon and wrapped it around as well. For the sign I stole a piece of luan from my hubby's scrap pile in the garage, covered it with some Fancy Pants Arctic Chill paper, and used Stickles for the lettering. Adhere a snowflake, and you're good to go! (For the record, I HATE snow, but didn't know what else to write on the wreath, so I chose that. :-))

Menu planning project

Hello blog land! Happy Monday night (and Martin Luther King Day). I had an unexpected 5 day weekend, which was great, but unfortunately I spent a large majority of it cleaning. It's not that I necessarily like to clean, but I LOVE having everything clean and organized and in its place. Josh said to me yesterday (as he walked in on me washing the inside of the dishwasher), "Ya know, hunny. People actually live here. It's never going to be as clean as you want it to be." What a wise man I married. The truth is, I don't think I will ever be as clean or organized as I want to be. There is always going to be that stray dust bunny or piece of fuzz. There is always going to be a more stuff to organize and a better way to organize. But, you do what you can. And part of doing what you can, is the adorable menu planning/calendar project.

First, I ordered a 16x20 frame off of Joann.com (Super clearance and free shipping.) Next, I sucked it up and paid the $2.00 extra and bought one at Walmart when the one from Joann's arrived in a million pieces. :-( I thought this whole next part was going to take forever and be awful, but it really wasn't. I cut out a few different sized squares to see which would best fit using my Cricut and vinyl. (Unfortunately, I don't remember which cartridge or what size I used.) Once I figured out what size I wanted, I cut the rest of the squares and letters out. I laid the glass piece on my scrapbook cutting mat. This has .5 inch grid marks and was REALLY helpful in figuring out spacing. I adhered all of the vinyl on the glass, but I had to do it backwards if that makes sense. I wanted the vinyl to be on the inside of my frame, so everything had to be reversed. After getting all the vinyl on, I put the glass piece back into the frame, adhered some burlap to the frame (gorilla glue, hot glue, staple gun...can't really remember which), and put the backing back on.

I wouldn't recommend using the calendar as your main calendar for a big family. We only have 3 people, and let's face it, a 10 month old doesn't have a hoppin' social life, so it works for us for now. The menu planning forces us to menu plan every week because I would be so embarrassed if company came over and found it blank. Whether we always stick with what is planned is another story. ;-)

Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday Night Chit Chat

Still no projects to show. :-( The flu hit hubby, so taking care of a baby, taking care of hubby, and trying to clean/sanitize everything didn't leave much room for crafting. Anyway, I had a quick minute while hubby is giving Liam his bath, so I thought I would participate in Carla's Sunday Night Chit Chat. Here it is:

What are you…

Reading? I just finished reading Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris. Haven't figured out what to read next because I have just been reading the Stackhouse series for SO long. Any suggestions?

Watching? The Giants game. (Go G-men!)

Listening to? Nothing at the moment, but I LOVE the Adele station on Pandora when I'm cleaning or scrappin'.

Cooking/Baking? Baby food, baby food, and more baby food. I take the all natural approach to raising Liam and he has only had formula once, we use cloth diapers, and he has never had bottled/canned baby food. We ran out of green so I believe green beans and peas are on the agenda, as well as sweet potatoes, squash, and applesauce.

Happy you accomplished this week? Cleaning! Josh getting sick forced me to do a thorough cleaning and with the 2 snow days turning this into a 5 day weekend, I've had more time than usual. I still need to get Liam's room, living room, and dining room, but the rest of the upstairs is completely clean. I sometimes go a little too far with cleaning, so it takes me awhile. Examples: yesterday I steam mopped the mattress, today I cleaned the inside of the dishwasher. I have also been knows to dust/lysol shoes before too.

Looking forward to next week? Scrapbooking with friends on Saturday and then having a triple date with other friends at one of my favorite restaurants that night.

Thankful for today? Josh feeling better and my infection clearing up and not having to have surgery to drain the infected area!

Well, I better get going. Liam is out of the tub so I gotta get pajamas ready and get the cloth diapers in the wash. Have a great night everyone!

Quick post

I have tons of projects I want to show you, but unfortunately I am dealing with a fever and infection. :-( So I am not feeling up to showing projects right now. Hopefully I'll be back soon.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and enjoys their time with friends and family. I am a very lucky girl and have an amazing husband, wonderful son, and so many other great family and friends who care and love me. I am so blessed and fortunate to live this life!

One sketch, two layouts

Tonight I wanted to share two layouts that you have already seen, but I wanted to show you how I was able to take one sketch, and make the layouts very different.

First, the sketch: (Courtesy of Keri from Sweet Peach.)

Next, the first layout I did using it:

As you can see, instead of doing the vertical pictures because I didn't have any I wanted to use, I chose to use horizontal pictures. I also didn't use the 6 pictures that the sketch called for, instead using only 3 and incorporating my journaling into the other three picture boxes. Everything else I kept almost the same except for the circles on the top and I used more than 5 circles on the side.

Now, onto the second layout:

If you recall from my post with this sketch, I completed this at a scrapbook retreat for a sketch challenge. This is a hard sketch to do when you aren't prepared with the proper pictures. So if pictures of meat work for the sketch and that's how you earn tickets, well, then that's what you gotta do! I did use vertical pictures for this sketch, and used 5 pictures, but still left room in that last spot for some journaling. I also changed the top and side from the original layout.

I hope this post has showed you the different ways you can go with a layout all while using the same sketch. I often use a sketch only once and then forget about it, but it may not hurt to hang out to them and whip the same one back out when looking for some inspiration.

I'm off to go pack for a scrapbook day tomorrow, so I should be back Sunday or Monday with something to show you. Have a great weekend!