I really should be packing for Disney World instead of sewing and surfing. We are leaving in two days and I just know I'm going to have Internet withdrawal... It makes me feel better that I have crossed a couple items off my "to do before vacation" list

oil change-check
car washed and detailed-check
gas-check
clean out car so passengers can actually fit inside-check

Still so much more to do: laundry, pick up new prescription sunglasses, grocery store and ummm....packing for said trip might be important.


Brownies!
Decided to make them in muffin cups using same recipe on back of box. I didn't have any miniature peanut butter cups so I cut the new Inside Out Reese's Peanut Butter Cups into sixths. Pour each cup 2/3 full and push peanut butter cup into batter until level with surface of the batter. Bake 350 for 35 minutes. I don't actually eat brownies but Tommy said they were delicious. He's the chocolate lover in this house so I have to take his word for it.

Little owl
This owl is off to live in a new home. I certainly hope he is worthy of living among such creativity! He is patterned after this little guy I made back in July.


I decided to only use toweling on his tummy area and make his body from fur this time around. Also, unlike his predecessor, his body is one piece which makes for much easier sewing.


Here he is with the drawing I made while sitting in the car waiting for Tommy as he went inside the auto parts store the other night. It was either draw or die of boredom.

Organization Monday Week 3


Definitely a work in progress. The shelves are not exactly the way that I want them but I can't find the exact tins/baskets I am looking for to fill in the gaps. I love the baskets on the top shelf. I just bought the white lunchpail on the middle shelf last week and I already have an idea for it.


Close up of the desk area. It isn't normally this neat. Of course, a room isn't complete unless there is a frog close by.


Hanging over my desk is this sweet picture I bought at a little gallery in San Antonio. I adore it because it reminds me of a time when I was pretty much independent for the first time.

Robot Fabric Project

Project in the works for this great robot fabric. Who could resist the bottom fabric with words like "Erp, Schrreech, Chrome Dome, Spzzp and Twoink?" They are fat quarters so I have been searching for a project to use them. I am happy to say I have found one and started on it last night.

Only one more week until we leave for Walt Disney World and I am excited. Busy making lists and hoping I don't forget anything. I know I could probably purchase anything I forget at WDW or our hotel but I'd rather save money for souvenirs. I need some more smashed pennies for my collection and Owen does need some more toys...

ETA-The fabric came in a packet of six fat quarters from Jo-@nn's. I bought it when our Jo-@nn's was going out of business to open a Jo-@nn's Superstore on the other side of town. The whole store was liquidated because they didn't want to take any of it with them.

Owen's Quilt-Completed
I decided to back Owen's quilt with flannel since his daddy has a flannel quilt made by his grandmother. I was warned that flannel is a tricky choice for the backing and I now know why they say that. It tends to stretch and gather even using a walking foot. It will be a while before I back a quilt with flannel again. But, it is so warm and cozy that I wanted Owen to have it on the back of his quilt. It was worth all the cursing, I think.



I decided to make the border red and complete the black diamond for visual interest. I like the way it turned out. I quilted every other diagonal to try and draw the attention to the Trip Around the World pattern since this is a busy little quilt. The binding is the red and blue polka dotted fabric which was one of my favorites.


Making the quilt label with binding took almost as long as binding the actual quilt. It reads:
To: Owen
Happy 1st Birthday
♥- Mama
9-05
You can barely see the white words in the picture but it shows up better against the yellow in real life.

















You'll have to excuse the picture quality. Not that my pictures are ever that good anyway but this little monkey wouldn't stay off his quilt long enough for me to take better pictures.

Organization Monday Week 2
Idea Binder


This has been a work in progress for at least a year now. A long time ago, I started a file of craft ideas found in magazines and on the internet. My plastic folder became so thick it wouldn't even close. So I decided it was time to do something about it. I took each page and cut off only the part I needed for the craft which reduced the pile somewhat. Next, I used mounting squares (double sided tape slivers) to mount the paper onto cardstock. I then placed the cardstock into the sheet protector. This works great for me since I can have more that one idea on a page and it takes up less space. If there is a pattern to go along with the craft, I simply slip it in the sheet protector between the two pieces of back-to-back cardstock.


Pictured above are two pages in the Christmas section of the binder.


If I wanted the whole entire article (like the Bunny pattern on the left), I just put the whole article down inside the sheet protector. I try not to have too many of these since it makes for a much thicker binder.


Two pages in the October section of binder.

My binder is broken down into months of the year instead of holidays with additional sections for Owen (pretend play ideas, fabric book patterns, etc.), Entertaining, and Cards/Gifts. I have a whole separate binder for scrapbooking ideas.

Just a note...This was very hard for me as I like to have things intact, magazines included. It was painful at first cutting up my MS Living, MS Kids and ME magazines. But, it got to the point where I couldn't find anything and all I had was stacks of dog-eared magazines. Now, it is much easier to find what I am looking for and I don't have stacks of magazines lying around. While flipping through the magazine, if I only found one or two ideas, I just made a color copy of those so that I could donate the magazine instead of throwing it away.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

I see a monkey party in our future...

Monkey party invitations have been started. They are constructed from shades of brown cardstock. I used my Zig Dotta-Riffic marker for the eyes and it makes the best round dot. I have had the marker in the drawer for a year or two now and have never used it for anything! It came in handy today, though!

Ten Months

Has it been that long? My goodness you are growing so fast and the time has flown by. Your absolute favorite word is MaMa. It is the first thing I hear when I wake up in the morning. Though, at that time of the morning it usually comes out sounding like MehMeh. You can wave bye-bye like a pro and often for no apparent reason. You've been crawling for a while now, pulling up and cruising along the furniture, and terrorizing the cat. Swoozie is pretty used to you by now and just sits there and lets you torture her. When she's had enough, she heads to the back of the couch where you can't get to her...yet.

Daddy doesn't understand where all these toys are coming from. He's not quite gullible enough to believe that we had all of them in the closet waiting until you were old enough. I've decided that if you are good at the store, you get a toy. It's that simple. So the other day, when we came home without anything for you, daddy asked if you were bad at the store. I couldn't lie to him and tell him that you were bad so sadly, I had to tell him that you pretty much had every toy that was appropriate for your age that T@rget sells.


















All dressed up for church. Too bad your mama can't bring herself to leave you in the nursery.

Organization Monday
Mondays are going to be all about organization around here. I have so many alphabet embellishments that I needed an easier way to organize them.

My mother-in-law purchased a hardware organizer at a garage sale because she figured I could use it to store scrapbooking supplies. She was right, the only problem? It was a yucky grey color. So, I purchased some Krylon Fusion for Plastic and gave it three coats. Next, I added some white letter stickers to the front of each drawer for easy sorting. So now instead of this:


I have this (much nicer than that garage appropriate gray color):


And for those sheets of letter stickers:

September Circle Journal Layout

I was behind on the last circle journal. It was supposed to go out to my partner at the end of August (hangs head in shame). However, I am redeeming myself by getting September's circle journal out early.

The topic of this circle journal is "time." I struggled with this one for a while before deciding that the most important thing I can do with my time is pray and be thankful for all the blessings I have received in life. Owen is a gift from God and for that I am thankful. I have so many other things to be thankful for such as an incredible husband who really does treat me well even though I give him a hard time, a roof over my head, clothes on my back, a caring family, and a chance to stay home with my son to experience his life first hand.

When so many people have lost so much, it reminds us to be thankful for even the smallest things we take for granted on a daily basis.

hoops and yoyo

Have I been under a rock?
While searching for a birthday e-card for a friend I came across these cute little guys over at Hallmark.com You can't miss them. They are speaking up as soon as you click on the e-cards link. They were cracking me up with their little act. They even recite favorite movie quotes. Apparently, there is a whole site devoted to hoops, yoyo, and sprinkles

Go vote for your favorite advertising slogan and advertising icon.

In quilting news, I am going to be working on the border for Owen's quilt as soon as I get enough energy or get brave enough...whichever comes first.

Circle Journal Layout


The topic of this circle journal was "color." Of course, I chose pink, didn't take me too long to decide on that one. I have to take pink where I can get it in a house filled with boys! I didn't realize I owned so many pink clothes until I put them all together to take this picture. Couldn't resist putting Owen's pink tootsies on this one!

Click on layout for a larger picture

Tagged
Been tagged by my good friend Holly to list 5 random things about myself.

I talk fast, really fast, and not just when I'm excited.

I love to wrap gifts. I often spend more time wrapping the gift than I spend picking it out in the store.

I get on collecting kicks where I absolutely must have every item available. My most recent collections have included alphabet letters for scrapbooking and orange fat quarters. I will go to every store I can think of to acquire more items to add to my stash.

Going to the mailbox excites me. I love getting mail!

I brush my teeth in the shower. I just don't feel completely clean if I don't.