Timothys Earbud Bag

Over the years I have made many, many items for my kids. As my son has gotten older it has gotten harder to come up with ideas for things I can make him. Because of this my girls end up getting more of my goodies than Timothy does. So you can imagine how excited I was to be able to make him something recently and he loved it. :)

His birthday was last week (he is 14yrs old now!) and one of the things that we got him was new earbuds. So of course he needed an awesome bag to keep them in. Actually they came with a bag but it wasn't a cool handmade bag. ;) I also wanted to try out some digitizing for my embroidery machine so what better opportunity than to make him something fun and useful. And so he ended up with an earbud bag to match the i-pod sleeve that I had made him. He was super excited when I gave it to him and that made me feel great! J

You have got to check out ColeArts

Well I obviously have not been better about posting regularly. Sorry. :( However Im going to make up for that by telling you about a super awsome shop that I recently discovered on Etsy. I was on there the other day when I saw a picture of a cute little Green Bay Packers snowman ornament. Now no one in my house is a Packers fan but when I contacted her about doing a Steelers snowman she was more than helpful. :)

Less than a week later I had the cutest little Steelers snowman ornament to give to Adam for our tree this year (Im early, I know). I cant even tell you how amazed and pleased I am with her work. The detail and smoothness of this little guy is awsome! And to say that she is reasonably priced is a huge understatement. Im so thrilled (Adam and the kids loved him too) with her work that I placed another order for a custom snowman/snowgirl for each of the rest of us. There will be a whole new family of snowpeople on our tree this year. :) I cant wait to see how the rest turn out, I know that Im going to be super happy. Then I cant wait until I can put them up and show them off. :)

If you would like to get a custom ornament for yourself or others I definitly recommend this wonderful artist. You can find her at http://www.etsy.com/shop/ColeArts

Donation Time :)

Well I will be the first to admit that I am very (very) lazy when it comes to my hair. It is very curly/frizzy. If it is short I wear it down and curly and if its long I wear it pulled back..... or down and curly. But mostly pulled back. I dont take time to blow it dry, curl it (like it needs that lol) or style it, unless you count putting gell in it.

It has been just over 2 years since the last time it was cut and that means..... Its way long enough to donte! Yay! :) My oldest daughter has donated to Locks of love before but then we found out about Pantene Beautiful Lengths. They require a shorter hair length so you can donate more often. :) Our youngest daughter had her first hair cut last year and was able to donate 11in. It is an awsome program and you can read about it here: http://www.pantene.com/en-us/beautiful-lengths-cause/default.aspx

This is the third time that I have been able to donate and Im so happy that I can. I was able to donate about 12in this time. Here are before and after pictures. I would love to hear what you have to say about these wonderful programs. :)

Back to School

Well its hard to believe but the kids are back in school..... well, 2 of them are. Tim doesnt start until tomorrow. The girls started today and were both very excited. It is a big year for both of them, Katie started middle school and Megan started 1st grade which means full days. Katie had her hair straightened and her alarm set early yesterday evening and Megan had coat, shoes and backpack on about half an hour before we needed to leave this morning. LOL I think they were both ready. I cant wait to see them after school and see how it went. :)

I cant believe she is 6yrs old!

Well my youngest, Megan, is now 6 years old. She actually turned 6 on August 20th. To keep a little piece of her always little I made a small handprint wall hanging. I let her pick the fabric, that explaines the "Cheetalicious" choice. lol I appliqued her handprint and added her name and age with machine embroidery before quilting it. Here is a picture of it.

Im going to do a larger wallhanging with handprints of the whole family. The one we did 9 years ago needs replaced. Handprints always remind me of a gift I made for my mom when I was in first grade. It had my handprints on either side of a poem. She had that hung in her room for years and I read that poem so many times that I know it by heart. I would like to share it now. :)

Sometimes you get discouraged because I am so small

and always leave my fingerprints on furniture and walls.

But everyday Im growing

and I'll be grown someday

and all those tiny handprints

will surely fade away.

So here's a final handprint

just so you'll recall

exactly how my fingers looked

when I was very small.

Author unknown (at least to me)

Well I have been a busy girl lately...... obviously not on here though. Between work, my daycare, my family and making things for my Etsy shop it seems like my poor little blog gets very neglected. Next week will be the last of me doing daycare and my kids go back to school in two weeks so maybe then I will have more time. Not that I expect that. ;)

Back in March I had a wonderful lady order some make-bags from me. Then she ordered more. Before I knew it I had a new friend and alot of make-bags to make. :) She makes awsome mineral make-up and can be found here: http://www.overallbeauty.com/ So alot of my "free" time the last few months has been making my bags in fun fabrics to match her great make-ups. :)

Now I have started on some holiday items. Hopefully I will be back on here to show you some pictures of some new table runners, pot holder sets and other fun things. I will try not to wait months before positng again.

Well I finally got Adams lap top bag done the other day. Im very happy with the way it turned out. Even though I didnt plan it this way, I finished it the day before his birthday so his birthday was the first day that he used it. Happy Birthday to him! :)

For The Horde!

My husband has been playing the game World of Warcraft (WoW) since it came out over 5yrs ago. It didn't take him long to get our two oldest kids involved also. It took him almost 4yrs to get me to try. And then I was addicted! Lol

Since Adam has gone back to school he got a laptop that he has with him all the time. I decided I needed to make him a laptop sleeve but coming up with "manly" quilted items isn't always easy. Then I thought "how cool would it be to make him a WoW sleeve." We are horde so I went on my search to find someone who could digitize the Horde symbol for me. I was lucky enough to get to work with the nicest lady ever!!! Not only did she get the design perfect for me, she did it 5 times to make sure it was just how I wanted it. Her name is Gina and you can find her and some of her amazing work here: http://ginabea.blogspot.com/ and http://www.etsy.com/people/ginabea

One of my test pieces was on my old t-shirt (with pumpkins on it lol). My son liked it so much that he wanted it on his sweatshirt. So yesterday I got his done and today I start my laptop sleeve. J

For The Horde!! Sorry to all you Alliance who may be reading this. ;)

I want to be a Whale!

This is an e-mail that my mom recently sent me. I love it and wanted to share it. Feel free to comment and let me know what you would like to be. :)

Recently in a large city in France,
a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym.
It said, "This summer,
do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?"A middle-aged woman,
whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster,
responded publicly to the question
posed by the gym.To Whom It May Concern,Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans.)
They have an active sex life,
get pregnant and have adorable baby whales. They have a wonderful time with dolphins stuffing themselves with shrimp.
They play and swim in the seas,
seeing wonderful places like Patagonia,
the Bering Sea
and the coral reefs of Polynesia ..
Whales are wonderful singers
and have even recorded CDs. They are incredible creatures
and virtually have no predators
other than humans.
They are loved, protected and admired
by almost everyone in the world.Mermaids don't exist.
If they did exist,
they would be lining up outside the offices
of Argentinean psychoanalysts
due to identity crisis. Fish or human?
They don't have a sex life
because they kill men who get close to them, not to mention how could they have sex?
Just look at them ... where is IT?
Therefore, they don't have kids either.
Not to mention,
who wants to get close to a girl who smells
like a fish store?The choice is perfectly clear to me:
I want to be a whale.P..S. We are in an age
when media puts into our heads
the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver, and a piece of chocolate with my friends.
With time, we gain weight
because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads
that when there is no more room,
it distributes out to the rest of our bodies.So we aren't heavy,
we are enormously cultured,
educated and happy.Beginning today,
when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, ?Good grief, look how smart I am!?

My mom went to visit her friend last Friday and found out that she and her husband had 2 pets that they were looking for a good home for. I was at work when mom showed up unannounced to have Adam help her get them out of the car. Needless to say he was less than thrilled.

However, they did come with everything they needed to be taken care of and they are cute. Also once the kids saw them we couldnt help being kind of excited too (even Adam although he will probably deny that lol). So here is a picture of our new additions Daisy and Koopa.

I guess I should be happy that mom doesnt know any horse breeders. :)-

Excel = Weight loss?

Ok, it's January and it's the time of year to lose weight….. again. Honestly, I started way before January. Forgive me for a moment but I'm going to backtrack a little (or a lot) to give you an idea of my battle with weight.

I was a skinny kid. Until I hit about 9yrs old and then I became a pudgy kid. I don't really remember the skinny part. Fast forward to January 1996- I was a happily married newlywed weighing in at 250lbs. I'm 5ft 4in, my comfy jeans were a size 24. :O Fast forward a few more years to summer of 1999 and I was a mother of 2 who was very tired of being fat! I decided to do something about it (finally right?) I worked my tail off (literally) and within a year I was down to 142lbs. I couldn't even remember weighing in that low.

I did great for awhile or so I thought. I definitely ate better (and less) and I worked out more often. But it crept back on slowly. By the time I became pregnant with my 3^rd baby in fall of 2003 I was back up to 168lbs and after having her in August of 2004 I was 196lbs. And so my weight loss needed to start again. L Now at this time a great thing happened. The show Biggest Loser started. It was perfect timing for me. I kicked into high gear along with the contestants that first season. By January 2005 I was 131lbs.

I happily stayed between 131-134lbs until around the fall of 2007. Then my husband was laid off and was home. I will be the first to tell you that he cooks WAY better than me. And he did. A lot! By summer 2008 I was back up to 146lbs. I know this is still healthy for my height but damn it I worked hard to get to 134. So once again I set off on the road to weight loss. And by fall 2009 I was-Drum roll please--- 146lbs! lol I guess I should be happy that it didn't go up right?

Now in summer of 2009 we purchased Wii Active for our Wii. I love it! It kicks ass. However like all weight loss tools they only work if you use them. And so in November 2009 I started using it again. And I started my food journal again. But my breakthrough came a couple weeks ago in the form of homework. Go figure.

Now you may be wondering how on earth I remember all these numbers. I love numbers, I'm weird I know. Anyway, I'm taking an online class to learn MS Excel. And what is it about? Numbers! Lol So what did I do with this new found toy? I made a formulated graph to calculate my min worked out daily, my calories burned daily and my calories consumed daily. I have been working out about an hour a day ever since just so that I can put numbers in and use my worksheet. That goes back to me being weird. J In the last week I have burned 2747 more calories than I have consumed.

Anyway, for all of you out there ( and I know you are there) Excel might not be your answer but no matter what there is an answer. If you have an answer that you have found, or even just a tip, please feel free to share it here. J

Oh, and by the way, as of today I weigh 141lbs. ;)

I was right, I couldnt stop with just my little turtle. And to make my next try even better my daughter made a little critter with me! :) Here are the cute little birds that we made. Katie is holding her bird that she made and Megan is holding the one I made..... but that she claims as hers. ;) Didnt Katie do an awsome job? Im so proud of her.

Amigurumi

Well I had this weekend off so Adam and I took the kids to the library. While looking through the crochet books I found a book about Amigurumi. Now I have made sewn stuffed animals in the past and I have to admit that I don't like putting on the heads, arms, legs, etc. I can never get them on tight enough. That being said, I checked out the book anyway. J

Besides the fun patterns, reading the book is pretty interesting. I was not aware of what a big part of Japanese culture dolls are. I always just thought they were cute little Japanese dolls. After reading my book and looking through the patterns (in the book and online) I settled on a fun little turtle. My mom loves turtles so I thought it would be fun to make her a little friend. Another thing that I like about these little animals is that for someone fairly new to crochet they don't seem to intimidating. J

So here is my first (and definitely not last) try at Amigurumi!

Welcome to 2010!!

Well I am a little late on my Happy New Year post but here it is. Happy New Year!! I ended 2009 in a hectic yet happy manner and I seem to be bringing 2010 in with the same theme. We have had car problems and plumbing problems and what not but it has all turned out ok and we are doing great. I am starting 2010 surrounded by my loving family and we are all healthy and happy. I couldn't ask for anything more. Here is to hoping that all of you are starting out the new year where you want and if you aren't there yet may you be there by the end of the year.