Old Habits Die Hard...

This blogging thing is hard for me.  I have every good intention of sharing what I am doing, but then months go by and I haven't posted.  Does this happen to many of you?  Not really, judging by your blogs I read everyday.  How do you do it?  How do you balance work and a blog?  Any suggestions would be appreciated.  Thanks!

Catching up Sunday

Summer is in full swing at our house.  Both of my kids are employed {yeah!}, I have my new crafting toy {see last post}, sod is finally installed in the front {water bill going up!}, garden is growing well {in spite of the rabbits and mole}and our healthy lifestyle changes are progressing {yeah, we allow cheat day(s)}.

I wanted to share with you the table redo I did for the hubs for Father's Day.  He didn't want us to buy him anything, only be crafty. {Totally love this man!} He is a big Cardinal fan so I had an idea {thanks Pinterest} to redo the gross table we have been using as an end table in his man cave. This old table was so bad that Goodwill would not take it! {No joke!}

I gathered my supplies and went to work.

 

First I sanded off all {most} of the shiny bits of lacquer and stain. I say most, because I concentrated on the top more than the sides and when I painted, some of those areas bled through. That's okay, I was going for a more rustic look.   :) 

Not sure why I felt the need to cover the top, since I was going to mod podge the heck out of it with paper and photos, but I did.   Also, what helped to add to the "rustic" look is my spray painting ability. I am rather heavy handed so, yeah.  Rustic.  :)  

Here it is all prettified.  

BTW, I cut out the STL logo with my new Sihouette Cameo. {Sweet!}

I sealed the top with an acrylic sealer to make it water proof until I find a piece of glass to fit the top for a little more protection.  It has all my hubby's favorite Cardinals pictured on it and is a perfect addition to his St. Louis sports themed man cave.   He loved it! Especially how rustic it was.  :)  

Long Awaited New Craft Toy

It's finally here!  I can't believe it!?  I have wanted one of these for so, so, so long and I finally have one to call my own.  Look...

Now I have to figure out how to use it.  :)  I received it a week ago so I have opened it and played with it a little.  It's so cool!!  Does anyone have any tips or suggestions, especially for the stickiness of the mat?  Just seems really, really sticky.  But my first cut came out great and it was from one of my own pictures.  I just figured out how to use the trace feature and it worked pretty good.  I haven't watched the instructional video that came with it... I am hoping it explains all the buttons on the screen a little better.  How did you learn?  Any suggestions would be very helpful and much appreciated!!

Happy crafting!!

Did you miss me?

Chances are, probably not.  But that is okay!! I really haven't been putting forth the effort on my little blog, as you can tell since my last post was in March!  Yikes!  I'd like to say I was away on some fabulous vacation or living some really exciting life like a movie star, but no such luck.  I have just been living my own ordinary, plain-jane,  life.  :)  And, really, it has been crazy.  Why is it the end of the school year ALWAYS so busy?!  Since March, I have: said goodbye to one of the teachers I work with who had a baby and moved back to WI; said goodbye to another one who is moving on to her own classroom and said goodbye to all the kiddos in my afternoon class who are going on to Kindergarten or ACP rooms.  (Did you know I work with special needs preschoolers? Just finished my 13 year!!) Also in that time, I moved my son back home from his freshman year at Nebraska and watched my daughter blossom as a tennis player. Who knew... she never played before, made the team and finished with a singles record of 5-1 and a doubles record of 3-3!! Not a bad way to finish her sophomore year of high school!

But now it is summer vacation!!  Yippee!  I have loads planned and hopefully will have much to share.  It won't be everyday, but it will be more than once every 3 months.  :)

Look how happy I am to begin summer!  :)  See ya soon!!

Luck of the Irish Wreath

Hello to you on this snowy Monday in March.  It seems that Mother Nature isn't ready for Nebraska to say hello to spring just yet.  Since I have the day off, I finally have the time to share with you my dollar store creation I made for our front door.  

Awhile ago I hit our local dollar store looking for craft inspiration and here is what I purchase:
(minus the gold spray paint, had that on hand)

 

I decided to spray paint the wreath gold to give it a little pop. Then to add color, I wrapped it with the shamrock garland and hot glued some shamrock foam shapes. I wanted to add some words to it and knew that flag had to come apart. 

Here is the finished project:  

What do you think?  I am pretty happy with it and it looks great against my green front door.

Now I need to create something for Easter or maybe just a cute springy wreath.  Wish me luck! 

I can't believe it's March already!

It's March? Already?  Can't be...I had so many activities I wanted to do. At least this means that spring is just around the corner. {Hopefully!!} February wasn't a total loss... my hubby and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary and our daughter Emily made the JV tennis team!!  I even managed to continue work on the FMS Photo-A-Day Challenge and not miss a day! (I did miss sharing them here, but you can find me on Instagram (@kraftysally) I even kept up with the One Little Word class at Big Picture Classes. I will share my inspiration board and March's activity soon. And I even found time to start the Christmas Card Challenge here. Of course I just started it and it's now on week 14 but hey, I started it.  That's what is important right?  :)  I have an even bigger list of to do's for March.  Hoping I get to them and can share. What is on your list?  Happy March!!

Photo-A-Day part 2, Feburary photos

Here is the second part, all of my February photos to today!!  Feels good to catch up. I am hoping by midweek to have an update on my One Little Word Project.  Hope you all are having a great warm weekend!!

Feb 1 (Day 32) Forks

My attempt at being creative with forks.

#notexpecting!!  :)

Feb 2 (Day 33) - Pattern

The delicate pattern on my favorite tea cup

Feb 3 (Day 34) - Something starting with E

Since my daughter Emily won't pose for me, here is my

empty coffee mug.  :) 

Feb 4 (Day 35) - Hope

I work with preschool children with disabilities and hope is

around me everyday! Hope in small things like finally getting

this beautiful boy with Autism to try a strawberry. 

Feb 5 (Day 36) - Something you smelled

One of my favorite smells...a brand new box of 

Crayola crayons!

Feb 6 (Day 37) - Soft

Fluffy cotton balls

Feb 7 (Day 38) - Your Name

Feb 8 (Day 39) - Something orange

Clementines anyone?

Feb 9 (Day 40) - Guilty Pleasure

I have a lot...my craft room, chocolate, my purse collection, but

the best is Downton Abbey. I share the other with my family, but this 

one is all mine!!

Feb 10 ( Day 41) - 3 O'Clock

Putting together Valentine goodie bags for my class