Do you check your blog pins on Pinterest?

I am not very computer savvy..so awhile ago quite by mistake I noticed I was getting a lot of blog views from Pinterest and decided to check it out. I do not have an account with Pinterest because I know I could get so absorbed by it.  I am sure I could spend hours going over all the beautiful images. But now I realize I probably should start doing it a bit because I find myself bookmarking projects I want to do someday and I should just be pinning it.

So to check on your blog do this:

pinterest.com/source/your blog address here.com/

Here are my blog pins

Here are Janae's blog pins

I check my pins daily because it is fun to see what people like and what they write on them for a comment. Most of you probably are already on top of this--but for those few of you that are like me and not all on top of the Pinterest thing yet, I thought you'd enjoy looking up your blog.

To end this post a couple pictures of the flowers at Walmart. Can't wait to have flowers in my garden. I am so enjoying having my purse camera to take pictures like these!

Thanks for visiting!

My Blog Book

Okay, so my kids will tell you..I am blog obsessed. I will admit it right from the start. For years I "stalked" blogs. Never leaving comments, never having my own blog. I feel like that was a time that I was getting my "blogging education". Then last September, after moving into a new house, I felt it was my time to take the plunge, into full blogging. I have my own blog..I comment on blogs. I love blogging. I feel so much support and friendship.  I don't apologize to my kids for it. I'm a stay at home Mom and they have my full attention all the time so if I spend a little time on the computer, it is not taking away from them. My husband thinks its great. I hate to cook but when I find recipes posted by a fellow blogger I try them. My husband loves that.  My oldest daughter has her own blog and it has been one more thing for her and I to have in common.

So being as blog obsessed as I am I really wanted to print my blog into a book. My parents had given me money for Christmas so it seemed the perfect gift for me. I am really happy I did. The pictures are all small, which I wish you could get printed more true to blog size..but you can still read and see everything I blogged about the last few months of 2011. The other thing I was not pleased with was the pictures are dark. When looking back at my blog I noticed a lot of my pictures are dark and so that is something for me to work on this year. When I called the company Blog2print they were so nice. They said because they print on paper and not photo paper the pictures tend to be dark. They said they couldn't reprint the book but they could refund me 20%. I was pleased with that and from now on will work with using lighter photos.

 It is a great coffee table book. I like having it to show friends that aren't in the blogging world and maybe getting them interested in my blog.

 Blog2print gave me the 20% money back on my paypal account. Now I don't use my paypal account that often so I don't know if you can take money out of it to buy groceries or what. I am going to pretend you can't. (LOL) To me paypal accounts are for buying things on E-bay or Etsy. So I felt like God was saying to me.."Go ahead and buy that peat pot rose you've been wanting". I have had this item saved on my bookmarks for months from this Etsy seller, who I love abbyspaperiegarden .

So I ended up getting this little beauty that I have wanted all these months..

The rose is made out of tissue, tulle, and lace..I love it. It has my name written all over it (actually it doesn't really..it says "Serenity" --even better) Janae liked it online but said she thought it was even more lovely in real life. I couldn't be more pleased it got to come live with me! So it is kind of like a bonus gift I got with the Christmas money from my parents.

So if you have any questions about getting a blog book feel free to ask. I might be able to answer your questions.:)

Have a great week! Happy Blogging!

Sewing Lessons

I think as a Mother I want to have my kids inherit traits from me that go beyond the bad genes they have most likely already inherited of having their hair turn white by the time they are 30, or having arthritis at a young age. Since cooking is not something I excel in, teaching them how to be creative, and helping them find their artistic gene is a good thing I can pass to them.

Both daughters were happy about the idea of me teaching them to sew--and already they are starting to excel! Since they are both major animal lovers they wanted to make "doggie outfits". 

They both caught on quickly and the pictures below show our model (Lacie) showing off their sewing accomplishments.

Chantel made this adorable outfit with the tulle skirt--she made a matching one for Daisy. Janae made the PJ's below with an adorable little ruffled back.

So cute--and so good for their first sewing projects! I can't wait to see what kind of home decorating projects Janae makes with her new sewing skills.

I will end this post with a picture of Bella--hiding under the fabric--seeming to say, "please don't make me an outfit"! Bella prefers to be naked.

Hope your weekend is going well!

My Teacup Cupboard

So actually this is probably an old medicine cabinet or something but to me it is my teacup cabinet!

I got this years ago on Ebay. It used to be a dark cream color. When I moved to this house I was in the mode of painting everything white. It was like a new start for us, a clean start. The kids and my husband were getting concerned I may paint them white! :) So after painting it white it looked like this--

So you will notice the slight differences from now--that I think make a big impact.

A blog I visit had a livingroom painted the most beautiful color. I e-mailed her and she told me it was Martha Stewart's River Mist. I am one that can be happy with just a little bit of something. Like right now I don't have the time or money to paint my entire livingroom River Mist but I figured I could get a sample of it and paint the inside of my little teacup cupboard. Did you know Home Depot sends out samples with free shipping? I thought that is pretty awesome and I got my sample within a couple days.

 I just love this color, it makes me happy! This is my favorite little teacup, beside a picture of my daughter and my Mother in law. I know, my Mother in law doesn't look like a Grandma. She is a pretty lady.

Then after painting the inside River Mist I did what I hadn't gotten around to yet, and I distressed the outside. I use Rub N Buff --my favorite color being Spanish copper. Love the look. I use it on everything.

Another thing I thought I would share today is this framed needlepoint I got the other day at Goodwill.

When I got it it was $2.99 "as is" because of a piece broken off the frame. On the back it says "To Winnie, From Mom 1955" I thought it was so sweet!

You can see that broken piece would be a deal breaker for a lot of people, but for me it just added to its charm. Here is how it looks now...

The coloring looks so good with my wall color and it is hanging by the backdoor...where I go out to look at my real roses in a couple months!

  To end this post, a picture of Wyatt with Lacie. I always wanted girls and I am so happy now that I had my sweet sons! (of course, I'm so happy to have my 2 girls too..I'm just a lucky Mom!)

Thank you for visiting my blog!

My first ATC 's

I have been a scrapbooker for many years. I was really heavily involved in the industry when my kids were babies and scrapbooking their lives was of great importance to me. I used to contribute to magazines, work on design teams, and teach scrapbooking classes. As the kids have gotten older, and my life has gotten more and more busy, scrapbooking has kind of been on the side burner. Right as I was sort of "getting out of it" something called ATC's were becoming popular. To my understanding they are baseball size cards you decorate in like an altered art sort of way. You can trade them, swap them, whatever you want! I have some holders and things for them that I got "back in the day.."but this is the first time I have ever made any.

Kimberly at ArtJoyStuff ( her blog here ) posted that she was having a 5 for 5 swap I thought it sounded like fun and that is why I decided to make my first ATC's. So these are going in the mail today and I hope that whoever receives them, likes them! They are surpose to be Valentine themed..and though I am not that traditional about colors and stuff with holidays these represent Valentines day to me!

So, being new at this I hope these are "worthy" of the swap. I think it would be so fun to hang across a ribbon from little clothes pins or something. Fun, cute, little altered art!

I got a new little camera...a few months ago my "purse camera' as I call it, fell out of my purse and shattered the lens. Now I have the new improved version of the camera. I really felt I need it to be able to post things on my blog that I want too. My other camera is HUGE. I love it , but I don't want to have to replace it so I don't like to take it places (if I dropped it, I would not be a happy camper!). This new camera has so many settings, as soon as I learn more about it I'll share it with everybody. I'm really excited about it!

Chantel took this picture of herself in the bathroom with my new purse camera.

 

Words to live by

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Janae's Ruffled Tablecloth

I am so jealous of this new ruffled tablecloth that Janae bought! It is actually a twin size bed skirt and I think it looks so lovely...

See her whole post here

Can you imagine how many flat sheets it is going to take me to make something like this? Not to mention the time???! But you know..I can't let Janae have more ruffled loveliness than I do (LOL) We can't seem to find the twin bed skirt anywhere now, other than at a very high price on ebay.

Just wanted to share-(for those of you that don't follow Janae yet) I thought you'd enjoy seeing this tablecloth. You know I have been in a ruffled state of mind lately. :)

 For those of you who may not know, Janae is my oldest daughter. She is 22 and recently bought her first home. Our taste in decorating is very much the same. I am very proud of her.

Thanks for visiting!

Valentines Day Touches

I love Valentines Day--it is a holiday about nothing but something that is wonderful...Love. Valentines day has never been strictly a romantic holiday for me but a time to celebrate love for my kids and all of  our family, friends..everybody we love! Besides that I love to decorate with pink whenever I have an excuse...and I think Valentines day is an excellant excuse!

I got this little rosebush at Walmart for $5. I treated myself because all you bloggers with your beautiful flowers are making me yearn for spring and pretty flowers. I took off the cheap little foil, wrapped the container in plastic and then cut a piece of white fabric, tied it on with tulle and I think it looks lovely! Then I took the little thing that tells about the rose and covered it with a "valentines couple" (Chantel thinks they look creepy) and decorated that up a bit .  Later I will be able to plant the rose in the garden.

Chantel and I went to Thrift City yesterday and found these adorable hanging hearts..all beaded and pretty ..for .75 cents! Love them, I think they look so pretty hanging on my wings.

I had to laugh about these little conversion hearts which now say things like "LOL" and "Got Love?" A little different than the things they said when I was a kid.:) The kids love them and I have to keep telling them, "Stop eating the decorations!"

I hope everyone is having a good week! Thanks for stopping by!

Bloggy Market Bags

As those of you that know me know, I get quite tickled with myself when I do a project that I really like. I am really please with these market bags I made for Janae and I. Isn't it great when a project turns out just as you envisioned it?!

What conversation starters these are with our blogs headers and addresses on the front!

Janae's looks really good because of the size of her header. I made a small ruffle out of a blue-green polka dot fabric that I got like 4 yards of at Goodwill for 1.99. I'll say it again...I love Goodwill! The fabric reminds me of a Cath Kidston  fabric. The color is so perfect for both Janae and I. The bags are white canvas bags from Walmart--3 for 5.97! (okay, there are times when I love Walmart too) I  was inspired by Sissie's blog here and by The Polka Dot Closet here.
I was really happy because Janae came over after working the night shift at the Pharmacy and saw her bag for the first time.  My designer purses daughter loved her bag so much she said she may even use it for a regular purse! That made it worth all the work.  Though honestly--they weren't that much work. I am so pleased Janae liked hers.

I learned through trial and error to use the Avery transfers for cotton fabrics for the blog headers..because otherwise the photos don't print well onto the canvas bag. For the blog address I used an Avery transfer for light fabrics..which I had to print mirror image.

On my bag I made a longer ruffle because my header is not as large as Janae's. I also "turned up" my ruffle attachment to do the most gathered ruffle it will do. I like it though it almost makes the bag almost heavy, and it uses a lot of fabric.  I can't imagine that you would ever want anything more ruffled than that so I am glad to know the attachment will do that full of a ruffle.

When I am not using my little market bag I plan to hang it in the entry right next to the door.

Better start planning the next ruffled project--have a great week!

A little bit of snow...

Well, my kids were hoping for a major blizzard that would close schools for at least a week but I thought I'd post some pictures of what we actually got here.

The kids were so excited about the snow they ran out in their pajamas!
We had big beautiful flakes..thought that just maybe the kids snow dreams might come true. Then came the sun..melting away all their hopes of school being cancelled.

Then came a little more hope...

Chantel was quite upset--her snowman building dreams were being washed away by the ground just being to warm...and that darn sun kept coming out. Then she built Alby---

Please forgive out of focus picture!

Her little tiny snowman with acrylic paint used for a face and buttons, and a small pebble on his head for a hat.  Later while making dinner look where I found Alby...

Oh Chantel..she can be such a funny 13 year old!

I really got myself in trouble with Chantel this morning--I woke her up for school..told her it was just raining outside...not a bit of snow so get ready for school. Well, turns out she gets all the way to school and texted me "There is nobody here!". Well, I guess we are like the only neighborhood without snow and school was 2 hours late. I felt so bad. My kids love to sleep in. She came home and I got a dirty look. :(who could blame her, Moms are suppose to be on top of school closures)

What my kids were hoping for was what we got in 2008...they called it the Arctic Blast (sounds like a Dairy Queen treat to me)

Here is a little trip down memory lane...

Chantel and Wyatt made snowmen they couldn't fit in the freezer!

But the next morning they looked like this

Our old house was completely covered, as were our vehicles

The kids made the trampoline into a snow fort--complete with Christmas lights lighting up the inside

The one thing I really miss about our old house is the snow, and the view. Though our old house is only 5 miles away from where we live now..it has 5 inches of snow, and we have nothing!

Thanks for stopping by--how is the weather in your area?