A great weekend...

I am not a big fan of Mondays. Especially after a really great weekend, going back to work is just not something I look forward to.

We had a fabulous family weekend; Caitlynn got to choose a place to have dinner Saturday night for her excellent report card and she chose...Subway. of all the places she could have picked, she picks Subway. Silly, silly girl. So we ate our sandwiches and then headed out to the Stingrays pack the house night. Hayley had a lot of fun dancing to the music and trying to find "Ray" the mascot through the entire game. We enjoyed it because there were a lot of people, which makes it a lot more exciting! The Stingrays won so we got free tickets to a game in February as well, which is just awesome because we love going! Then Sunday we watched football and ordered pizza--I will accept any excuse to get out of making dinner for a night, and actually managed to avoid having to actually cook a dinner all weekend-YES!

A quick card to share this morning...
I made this one using entirely scraps. I've been trying to do more of that lately so that I can reduce my scrap bin contents considerably--it's a huge mess and one of my biggest problem areas for how to keep it neat and organized.

Being productive at work

Things are REALLY dreadfully slow at work right now. We are waiting patiently (or not so patiently in my case) for things to pick back up. In the mean time, we've had to bring in books or something to keep ourselves entertained through the work day. I complain a lot about this to my husband because I am really not a sit and do nothing type of girl. I have a to-do list a mile long for things at home that I could be working on instead of sitting at work doing nothing. But I decided to make the best of it and I've been bringing some crafting supplies with me to work and that's where I created today's card. Had some fun with this one, mixing up patterns and colors. I really love how it turned out. I used my SU! scalloped circle punch to create the flowers. Just punched them out, crumpled them up, flattened them back out again and adhered them together and topped them off with a PTI button. Easy peasy flowers. All of the papers and stamps are from PTI as well. Dark Chocolate, Spring Moss, Raspberry Fizz, and of course white.

Will is back to work starting today. Had to share the bathroom to get ready this morning for the first time in 5 months! CRAZY!!!! I'm so not used to that. Kind of messed with my routine a bit, but we all managed to get out of the house on time. That always makes me happy. Hoping to start a new book today, My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. I know I'm a little behind the trend with this one, but I still wanted to read it...so that is my distraction today for the work day.

Hope you all have a great day!

Love you tons!

It's Friday! It's Friday!
Once again, life got in the way of me posting yesterday again as I planned to, but here is the card I was going to share. This card was inspired by a card of Dawn McVey's that I saw a while back. I created the sentiment on my computer, but the rest of it is stamped using PTI stamps and inks. I have been pretty busy making cards, lately. Really enjoying the quick and easy of them right now as opposed to scrapbook pages. It allows me to do something creative, but not spend all day on it and these days that is definitely what I need. Things are so busy right now getting back into the swing of things with Will being back home and me working full time.
Hayley has been enjoying every minute of the last two weeks with her daddy. She just adores him and missed him so much. She is going to be very sad to have to go back to her normal babysitter next week when he has to return to work and I know he is going to miss spending the days with her. He gets such a kick out of her...she really is very funny though. Definitely will do just about anything to get a laugh, which keeps things pretty interesting around our house. Here lately she has had a lot of static so she knows if she rubs her head on the couch, her hair will stand straight up. She does this CONSTANTLY and it makes me crazy because it makes it impossible to keep her hair under control. But it is very funny. Its on my list of things that I absolutely have to get a picture of this week.

Caitlynn has bronchitis and has been coughing non-stop. Poor girl. She's been sick off and on since before Christmas. This South Carolina weather that can't decide if it wants to be warm or freezing is to blame, I think, because she is very rarely sick. Really hoping that this round of antibiotics gets rid of it for good so she can get back to her normal cheerful self.

Busy weekend for us, though. We are going to finally tackle this garage project that we've been putting off for months, and I'm getting a haircut tomorrow that I'm really excited about. Then hopefully some family fun at the bowling alley or movie theater plus lots and lots of football. GOOOOOO COLTS!!

Dusting off the cobwebs

the blog has been at the bottom of my to-do list for quite a while. Life just keeps getting in the way. I have added it to my list of resolutions for things I want to put more effort into. I want to use it as more of a record of what is happening in the life of my family as well as a place to share the things I do creatively. So today is hopefully the jumping off point for that.

A lot has happened the last few weeks. Changes. Adjustment. Will came home from his 4 month deployment almost 2 weeks ago. It's crazy how those 4 months just drag and drag and then he gets home and his 2 weeks off from work FLY by!! We have been enjoying our time as a family, though, and just LOVE having him home.

As soon as my camera battery finishes charging, I have a card to share...be back before the day is out!

Fabric Basket

Phew...long time no post. AGAIN! Sorry to those of you who still check this thing!! I haven't been too crafty here lately. Just too busy trying to clean house and have it actually look clean. Anyone else have that problem? I feel like I clean 24/7, finish a room and move on to another one and by the time I finish the second one, the first is a disaster again. I'm sure it's part of having kids and having to keep up with it all on my own while Will is away, but MAN is it frustrating!!!

I decided that enough is enough and made myself let go of the fact that my house just isn't perfectly neat and gave myself a break to do something just for fun. I got out some fabric and my sewing machine and got to work and here is what I came up with...

and the inside...

I know this is going to look awesome with some of my Amy Butler or Heather Bailey fabrics...YUM. But for now, I think this little polka dot one is pretty darn cute! I definitely didn't reinvent the wheel here, there are other people all over the web that have done these and I just decided on a whim to give it a go...thinking they might make some mighty cute gift baskets with some other stuff inside.

Look, the seams match up on my very first try!! I usually have at least some issues with this...not this time!

Pretty proud of my cute little basket! :-)

Happy Friday, everybody.

Got a little messy...

I LOVE working with paint and canvas. I wish I could take credit for the design of this piece--I can't. I totally copied this whole idea from someone else. I saw it on the Living with Lindsey blog and thought it was such a cute idea and I love the quote because it sort of relates to my life with my hubby and such. Anyway, here is my take on it...

I got a few parts a little spattered with some black paint and I just kind of went with it and left it there. I figure it was just a happy little accident ;-). Besides it's just for me anyway. Just a way to get outside of my box and do something fun. I hadn't worked with paint in such a long time and it's so relaxing. I was so wrapped up in it, it was nearly 1 a.m. when I finished!! But I like it and for now it is gracing my lovely buffet table. I will probably move it into my studio/office at some point.

**Sorry about the flash on it, it was obviously dark when I finished it, so not a great picture, but you get it :-)

I almost forgot...

Here is a pic of the finished buffet table! I can't believe I almost forgot to post it.

First, one more look at the before:

And after:

I am hoping to do some more crafting tonight so I should have more to share tomorrow! Happy weekend!!