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

Photo-A-Day catch up part 1

Whoa!  I need to post a few catch up blogs to get to this weeks Photo-A-Day pictures.  So I guess I will jump right in to where I left off.

Day 21 - What you do

I work with Preschooler kiddos but since today is a holiday, I am sharing

my crafty side.

Day 22 - Corner

Concrete corner, snow and our van do not mix!

Day 23 - Electric

A kiss from my hubby is always electric to me!  :) 

Day 24 - Stripes

My favorite College stripes :) 

Day 25 - Landscape

Crossing the Platte River, just outside of Omaha, NE

Day 26 - Together

My morning staples, just need a little milk.

Day 27 - Sun

It's cold and rainy here in Nebraska today, but

it's always sun{ny} in my craft room.  :) 

Day 28 - Through

Spying on my dog Nugget

Day 29 - Grow

My house plants growing...

Day 30 - Down

My attempt at downward dog...really need

to get back to yoga! 

Day 31 - Yourself

Here I am!

One Little Word...

I have finally found some time to work on the One Little Word project I joined.  I have never done anything like this before and took the plunge.  After all my one little word is Fearless.  If you want to find out just what is One Little Word and Big Picture Classes, click here.  If any of you out there follow Ali Edwards then you know what I am talking about.

Here are my first two pages, or intents for my year of fearless living.  I am ready!

                             

(one of these year I will figure out how to put pictures side by side!)

   

Photo A Day - Days 8 thru today!

I am finally back!  I wish I could say I was really busy and have some great projects or recipes to share with you but to be honest... I've been lazy!  There I said it!  :)  But lazy can be a good thing. It helps to recharge your batteries and hang out with the people you love. It also lets you get caught up with Downton Abbey!  I can't believe I haven't watched it until now... it is such a great show!  And it is on tonight!!  Yay! Guess you know how I am spending my evening.  :)

Enough about that, I do have some photos to share from my photo a day experience.  Here we go:

Day 8 - Something Beginning with T... 

My tote bag, full of goodies for my preschoolers.

Day 9 - Paper

A selection of cards and paper crafts that I have created.

Day 10 - One o'clock

Time to practice writing our names in preschool.

Day 11 - Water

Breakfast clean up

Day 12 - Surprise

A winning scratch off ticket!!  $7.00 enough for a latte and scone.

Day 13 - Circle

My favorite tins!

Day 14 - Something yellow

A little yellow breakfast

Day 15 - An ordinary moment

Feet up, watching the news after dinner. 

Day 16 - Two Things

A must for me in the morning, mascara and eye shadow.

Day 17 - Ready

All ready to go to Jazzercise!

Day 18 - Shadow

Light hitting my favorite sign.

Day 19 - Delicious

A yummy Italian dinner and wine! 

Day 20 - Something you saw

The outside of my son's frat house. No way was I going

inside... it is disgusting in there, trust me!  

There you have it!  Hope you enjoy them and maybe do your own photo a day project.

Until next time!!  

How was your Friday?

I can sum up my Friday with one picture:

Hoping the weekend is better. 

Ready to start the year

Okay, I know this new year is now 7 days old, but we have been on vacation. Now that we are back and kinda rested, I am ready to begin one of my resolutions on keeping up with this blog of mine.

A few posts back I told you about a photo-a-day project I found on pinterest that belongs to this blog, fat mum slim. (Click it to visit her site).  Well I have decided to actually try it out for the whole year!!  I did it for the month of December and said if she was going to continue it for 2013 I would commit to it. Yay!!  Here are my pics so far and with the theme for January.  Tell me what you think.

Day 1 - Today

Got to pack for our trip while

watching football.

    

Day 2 - Something New

A new vest from my hubby.

Day 3 - Heart

Old magnet found on my mom's fridge.              

Day 4 - View from here

Looking into my sister's backyard.

Day 5- Movement

Car changing lanes.

Day 6 - Mine

My crazy, lovable family!

Day 7 - Street

Heading home.