Desk Chair Redo

I have not jumped off the face of the earth. I debated on deleting this blog and did for a week or so. I decided to put it back up and keep the organizational and craft things here. My hits are generally on those items thus my decision to continue those things. I am not going to make any promises, but will do the best I can for posting. I am currently on a week break before I am back to setting up my classroom. I am also working on my masters and will finish this spring which means my life has been crazy. If anyone EVER considers taking three master's level classes in a 8 week summer session...don't. It has been crazy, but my wonderful husband made it possible. While doing all of this schoolwork, I desperately needed to complete a craft project.

I decided to work on the desk chair my girls use. Let me tell you.....it was disgusting.

See... disgusting. I hated seeing this thing, but never thought to recover it until this summer. I used dish towels that I purchased at Target last year. I have used these dish towels to make curtains last year. I wish I had bought more so I could do more projects, but alas I did not.

We went with the darker towel on the seat to maybe help with the staining. The girls have also been told that they are not to eat in this chair, but we will see how long that lasts.  This project took about 20 minutes including gathering materials and cleaning up. I wish I had done this earlier, but at least it is finished now.

Cleaning, Project 365, Scrapbooking, and Grandmas

Well, I did it. I went into the scrapbook room to clean. Let me just say that a layout I did on Halloween was still sitting on the table covered by a pile of stuff. It got so bad that the girls just started putting things on the floor when I asked them to put something in there.

More than one I have wanted to create something, but I didn't want to do the work necessary to make an empty spot on the table. I even had Christmas presents that I hadn't put away yet. Now the room is not organized completely, but then I honestly don't know if it ever will be.

After putting things away, I actually made a layout.

The journalling says: Why do I go so long without creating something? I love to craft, I have a space, I have lots of supplies, but I don't create. I love how I feel after i create something, but I still don't do it often enough. Why? So hopefully with this new clean space, I will actually go in there and create. Even organizing my pictures would be wonderful.

Project 365 March 1 and March 2 did not occur. I do not know what happened. I thought I had only missed one day, but it actually was two. The way I see it is that this is my project. If I miss a day, I can extend the project that much longer or I can use more than one picture from another day. Less stress that way.

I did take pictures today, but I can't decide which one of these two I would like to be my picture.

I feel blessed to have this quilt. I can remember my grandma telling me about this quilt and seeing it on her bed. All of the patterned fabric was from my grandma and her sister's clothes growing up. I am not sure who actually started the quilt. But I do know that ladies who were in the nursing home with my great-grandma helped finish the quilt. My grandma loved this quilt and wished that she could sew. In fact she wished she could sew beautiful clothes like a girl that she grew up with was able to do.

After my grandma died and my grandfather was going into assisted living, their house was put up for sale. Family members were allowed to take a few things after the auction happened. Different people wanted different things. I didn't plan on taking anything. I went so I could take pictures of my favorite parts of the house. I did get those pictures and I have scrapbooked them. While I was taking pictures, I noticed the quilt on the floor. Different people were either walking right by it or even on it. I don't think they realized what it actually was. At that point, I asked if I could have it. As you can see, I got it.

I do have plans for it. The quilt was made into a bedspread. I want to cut the ruffled sides off and bind the quilt. Now I have to figure out what fabric to use for the binding and actually complete the binding. Then I want my family to use the quilt and know where it came from. I miss my grandparents and this quilt makes me feel just a little bit closer to them.

Late on the Program

I keep telling myself that I am going to try to participate in Project 365. So far this year, I have taken one picture and then take a few days off. Well I have taken pictures for the last three days and I think that is a great start to completing the project. By doing this project, I am hoping to take more pictures of who we are as a family, but also improve my picture taking skills at the same time. In the process, I will blog more often. At least that is how the plan is supposed to happen.

So now to my first three days of Project 365:

Day 1/365: February 26, 2010 - Melodye performed in her school's 4th grade musical, The Nightingale. (She is in the silver and blue dress.)

 

I had to include a close up picture of Melodye. Look at those eyelashes. They are amazing. She is blessed with my eyes and her daddy's eyelashes.

Day 2/365: February 27, 2010 - Maddy stayed the night with the girls. Melodye was reading to Maddy and Brooke. I love when I find them doing this. I need to learn the controls of the camera so I can take this kind of picture without them knowing that I am doing it.

Day 3/365: February 28, 2010 - You know there are girls in the household when you find My Little Pony's in the medicine cabinet.

Tutorials on the To-Do List

I am wanting to try the following three tutorials. I thought maybe some of you would like to try these also.

1. A Grocery Cart Caddy - I so need this. I usually end up having the coupons all wrinkled from being held in my hand. Plus the fabric that was used just makes me want to create also.

2. Apple Butter - and homemade on top of that. Mmmmmm I can taste it already. I just need to get the supplies and find a day that I can really focus on doing it correctly.

3. Envelope Clutch - Functional and just so fashionable looking. We are just getting ready to start the envelope system. We will see how it goes before putting the time in to create this.

 ***** I tried to add pictures of each tutorial, but I am getting an error message. Each time I click on the photo icon, I get a message that the link cannot be found. So trust me the links are worth going to and spending time to look at the finished products.

SwagBucks Recommendation

Well, I have been trying out Swagbucks. I wanted to try it out before blogging about it. After becoming a Swagbucks member, I downloaded the Swagbucks toolbar. Now I do all of my searches through Swagbucks. Searching will earn you swagbucks. Most times it is 1 swagbuck but can be higher. Sometimes there are codes that can be entered to earn free swagbucks. The swagbucks can then be traded in for prizes. I am trading my swagbucks for Amazon gift cards. So far I have earned $10 in Amazon gift cards. I have done this in only a few months time while doing my normal searches online. If you are interested go to swagbucks through my referral links so that I will get referral credits. I would appreciate it. I am trying to see how much I can earn towards Christmas presents.

These stamps are just too cute to pass on sharing. The site is 2 Cute Rubber Stamps.

It think my favorite might be the turtle sundae digi stamp, but that is hard to pick.

The stamps are quite cutesy, but in a good way. Right now the site is offering the first 50 people who follow the site by February 22 through Google Connect a free digi stamp. It has not been posted which stamp will be the free one, but from what I have seen it really won't matter because they are all adorable.

Here are some other favorites:

Owl Miss You ---Oh, I love the glasses on the owl.

Mermaid and Friends---Perfect for those girly girls.

February Goals

Sorry there are no pictures in this post. My laptop, where I had all of my pictures, had to be rebooted back to factory settings. I am still trying to get things reinstalled. I am getting what I can done without stressing myself out too much.

I have 5 goals for February. They are listed below here.

1. Exercise more than 12 times in the month.

2. Organize scrapbook room.

3. Read at least four books this month. I have really been slacking in my reading and that really makes me sad.

4. Complete a budget and stick to it.

5. Work on February Lady Sweater.