My little Montana Girl...

This is a layout I did a number of weeks ago already, but in the craziness that has been my life I just now got around to photographing it, though it has been on display in my craft room making me smile. =D I just used some random things from my stash, but I really like how it turned out, and I love these pictures of Ellie!

I CRAFTED!!!

If I sound excited, it's because I am!! My craft room has been clean for a couple days (though I still need to vacuum the floor and finish organizing my embellishments, but the organization can come later when I have a block of time to dedicate to it.) and last night inspiration struck and I headed down to play! I pulled out the August Sweet Pea Scrap kit (that's right! I'm using a CURRENT kit, even though I still haven't touched the ones from the last few months!) and this is what I created. I loved these pictures and the play-by-play action of the haircutting process. I even got to use some older stuff that I've been wanting to use or get rid of (and I didn't really want to get rid of them...). So the letters, circle, and speech bubbles are Martha Stewart fabric stickers I got on clearance at Michael's about a year and a half or so ago. There is only one of each letter, so it's been hard to use them, but I love them on this layout! I used my Dymo labeler (which I love) and I used a date stamp set for the first time, too! Oh, and those felt flowers are from my stash and I've had them a long time, too, but never use them. So I'd say it was a productive little craft session and I'm SO EXCITED to be back crafting!

I'm not buying any more scrapbooking supplies right now...

... but if I were, I would buy this:

They're Karen Russell easel albums with die cut and acetate page. I've thought they were beautiful since I first saw a sneak peek of them on her blog. They're finally available online (which matters since our LSS won't be carrying them), but I'm not buying any more scrapbooking supplies right now. I have plenty in my craft room to keep me busy for a very long time. And until I use some of those supplies, I don't think I should add to the pile. Because shopping does not equal crafting, no matter how cute the things I want to buy are.

On another note, in just a few hours' time yesterday I managed to make a serious dent in the craft room! Even Leif noticed right away when he came down, which is saying something! I've got one table completely cleaned off and the other two are about 80% there. I've got a list of projects to finish, things to take pictures of and blog, and ideas for organizing my stuff. And I've almost filled up a large box with scrapbooking supplies I'm passing on to others. Paper, stamps, a cutting mat, embellishments, pens... lots of stuff, some of it older, but some of it really good stuff, too! But as Flylady says, if I don't love it or use it, lose it. So I'm paring down.

Oh, and this has NEVER happened before, but it's further proof that I'm turning into my mother. While I was cleaning the craft room yesterday I never once got distracted (*GASP* Did I just say that??!), never once saw a project that needed a couple quick details and decided to work on them right then and there, never once even WANTED to play with things as I came across them. If I had an idea while I was cleaning I simply jotted it down on the whiteboard and kept on cleaning. WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME??!! Don't get me wrong... I think it's great, and my time was so much more effective yesterday than it has been during any other cleaning session ever, for as long as I can remember. I'm just sayin' it's weird is all. But I'm hoping it sticks around today so I can get the craft room finished today, at least the cleaning part. I'll work on the organization as I have time, but a it's easier to organize in a clean room anyway.

It's so weird to hear myself say that...

After I said I wasn't going to do it....

... I am cleaning out the craft room again. I'm gathering a box of scrapbooking supplies to offer on Freecycle, and another of general crafting supplies. There is just too much stuff in that craft room of mine, though I never thought I'd hear myself say it. But there's a new furniture arrangement down there (which I hope to be able to show off by Craft Night in September!) and some organizational projects that I've started and not yet finished (like applying Tack-It to the rest of the stamps I unmounted months and months ago! Yes, that project has dragged on and it's time to be done!) that I want to finally complete. I'm really hoping to have it ALL DONE (new organizational systems in place and everything) by the time my brother comes to visit in September, but that only leaves me 12 days to do it! Good thing I worked on it some more today, huh?

Oh, but the gift wrapping station? GREAT. I love it. I've used it once to wrap a gift, but now all I need is more people to buy stuff from my etsy shop. Get to it, people! I want to use my wrapping station some more! =D

Crafting again and baby gifts!

Yep, I got to craft. I'm working on some new things for my Etsy shop (there will hopefully be an update next week, so I'm gearing up for it!!) so last night after Ellie was in bed and while Leif was doing something on the computer, I sat down with Angel season 2 and crafted! It was wonderful. I enjoyed it. *sigh*

And I went to a babyshower tonight, complete with handmade gift! Hooray! I feel very strongly that gifts (at least from me) ought to be handmade in some way, so I was glad to have had the time to finish up Deila's gift in time for the shower! I've got a gift already made for Anita's baby shower (I'll have to send the gift with my mom), but there are more babies on the way, so I guess I've got to get busy again! While I'm thinking about it, let's just figure out who I need gifts for in the next little while...

Stephanie - twins (gender unknown)
Catherine - girl
Ariana - girl
Anita - boy DONE
Tam - girl

So that makes 5 baby gifts I need to get cracking on, that I can remember. I think there are probably more that aren't coming to mind, but this list is enough to get started on.

Some of my favorite pictures...

Have I mentioned how much I like scrapping these 2 year pictures we took of Ellie? I think it's the colors. I like the colors. That is pretty much why I dressed her in that outfit, though.... And digital crafting isn't nearly as fun as real crafting, but it's still fun. =D

Cards with scraps...

A while back I decided to use up the scraps in one of my SPS kits. I also had some DCWV cards that I had and decided to use up... the results are simple, but sometimes simple is good. I put some of them up in my etsy shop just to see if simple cards are what people are looking for (still trying to find my niche... I think I've got an idea I haven't seen from anyone else, but those will have to wait until the September release, provided I get them finished. Worked on them some more last night, so hopefully they'll be done pretty soon. I'm down to the embellishment phase, which is the most fun. Also the most time consuming...) but here's a look at what I did with my scraps:






So it's not new craftiness, but unless you check my etsy store, it's new to you! =D I'll see if I can't dig up a few more new things to share with you (I'm pretty sure I've got some layouts I just haven't taken pictures of yet) until I actually get to my own crafting again. In the meantime, enjoy the cards!

Getting stuff done!

I'm getting stuff done today and I am jazzed about it! I've been seriously giddy all day. You'd think I was crafting, but I'm not.

I'm cleaning.

And organizing.

And that's almost just as good. (Oh wow. I believe I just crossed the threshold and turned into my mother.)

While we were camping I started dreaming about ways I could improve the messy situation in our basement that is the other half of the space I share with my craft room. I'm not touching my craft room right now, but I have needed to organize the "laundry center" and that started me on this grand reorganization scheme. So today I put some of it into action and I cleaned out the under-the-stairs storage space (which was relatively organized already, but I moved some stuff around, consolidated some things, and freecycled a bunch of stuff) which left me with a little more space in there that I promptly turned into....

A GIFT WRAPPING / PACKING STATION!!

Yes, I have gone crazy. But I am SO EXCITED about this little space of mine. A place to wrap gifts (because I tend to get a little excited about wrapping gifts and want all my gift wrapping goodies at my fingertips) and a place to pack up etsy orders to ship. It's not quite done yet, but it's turning out nicely, and I should be very close to done tomorrow after I buy a few more supplies. I'm hanging my wrapping paper and tissue paper on the wall using curtain rods and it's turning out marvelously! Now I just have to figure out how to put up a shelf in such a way that it doesn't block all the light over my little table.

And because I'm getting stuff done, I'm excited. It's sort of making up for the craftless angst I was feeling and that's always a good thing. In addition to the closet/laundry/wrapping station organization, I am reorganizing our exercise/weight lifting equipment so it's easier to use, too. There was stuff piled on the weight bench and random free weights all over the floor, so I cleared off a shelf I had been using for craft supplies (for those crafts I have admitted I will never do, like candle making and paper making - those supplies get freecycled!) and used that space to neatly store the weights, in order by poundage. It feels good to have everything getting organized so the space is useable. The next step is to create a "photography studio" for Leif since I let junk spill over into it last time he tried to have one. Ooops. But I have plans for that, too, and then plans for the craft room, but I think we are going to insulate the walls in that room, so the craft room will have to be COMPLETELY DISASSEMBLED first for that. So I'm not touching the craft room right now. That can come later.

Ah, how good it feels to plan out a project (yes, I even drew diagrams of how I wanted things arranged while I was planning on our trip!) and see it coming to fruition. Today was a wonderful day!!

I need to craft. Desperately.

I desperately need to craft.

DESPERATELY.

It has been so long since I've been down in my craft room, and even longer since I've actually scrapped. My days have been filled with a 2 year old who doesn't nap any more, and my evenings filled with the household chores I didn't get done because Ellie needed me to play with her or help her or just be with her. Craft time? Zip. Zilch. Nada.

So this weekend (Thursday through Sunday) we headed to Yellowstone to camp, and I brought my knitting and crocheting along. I desperately needed to craft. Have I mentioned that yet? I more or less just yarncrafted (I don't think that's a word, but it's fitting and easier to say than "knitted or crocheted") while we were in the car driving (we live about 2 hours from the west entrance to Yellowstone) and I managed to complete a scarf and hat, the top portion of a shirt or dress (that I will finish with fabric), and I've got three more scarves in the works, one over halfway done and the others about a third done each. It was calming. It was relaxing. I need more crafting in my life. I always say it is my sanity, but until recently I didn't realize how much I really do NEED it.

So... I'll post pictures sometime of the projects I yarncrafted over the weekend. I'm gearing up for fall already. It's weird. But I'm oddly happy that I can sit and craft pretty, warm things and it doesn't require much space or cleanup and Ellie can't get into it too badly. But oh, how I miss my scrapbooking. I haven't even touch my last two Sweet Pea Scraps kits. Not even touched. As in, haven't even opened the bags to see what's inside. How sad is that?

But sooner or later I will get to craft again. Hopefully in September, when I am bringing Craft Night back after its untimely death with Michael's move to Austrailia. Even if it's just me and a friend or two, I'm bringing Craft Night back in September. I have to. I. Need. To. Craft.

Elizabeth Manley's Apple Pie

This is the best apple pie. It's easy, it's pretty, and it's delicious. I could have sworn I posted the recipe on here before, but apparently I had not. It's time to remedy that!

Elizabeth Manley’s Apple Pie

Filling:

• 6 Cups sliced Apples (about 6/7 apples)

In small bowl combine:

• ¾ C sugar
• 4 Tbl flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Add mixture to apples. Place in unbaked crust.

Topping:

Mix together:

• 2/3 C flour
• 1/3 C brown sugar

Add:

• 1/3 C melted butter
• ¼ tsp cinnamon

Crumble evenly over pie. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 min. Reduce heat to 375 degrees and continue baking for 30 minutes.

The Paperless Crafter Strikes Again!

My daughter received a dress in the mail the other day from her Uncle Robert. It is this cute little pink and white number that goes with a hat he made and sent her earlier in the year. My plan was to have her wear it to church this morning, and so she did. But first I had to crochet a collar (or "necklace" as Eliana keeps calling it!) to dress up the neckline a bit, with permission from my brother. So yesterday afternoon at Sweet Pea I left Eliana with Leif for a spell and trekked on downtown to my favorite yarn shop, Stix. There, with dress in hand, I found some yarn that matched nicely (as well as a few skeins of other beautiful yarn I just couldn't resist!) and I headed back to Sweet Pea to listen to music as my busy hands worked. I didn't have a pattern, or even a picture in my mind when I started, so I just crocheted. Every so often I'd pull Eliana aside and make sure the collar would be the right length for her neck, and then I kept on crocheting. It took me about an hour and I had a cute little scalloped collar! I was pretty happy with it, but felt it needed one more thing... So again I hopped up and trekked downtown to the bead shop, where I purchased 17 white beads (along with some other beauties I couldn't resist, LOL! See a theme??) to finish the project. And here is what I made:

I am very pleased with how it turned out, and it complimented the dress wonderfully! Here is my little girl in her cute ensemble from Robert, with the collar/necklace around her throat. (DISCLAIMER: This picture was taken AFTER church, not before, so the collar had loosened some in her playing. I didn't try to fix it before I took the pictures, because she was getting fairly cranky. So while it looks big here, rest assured that when we walked into church it was adjusted appropriately and did, indeed, follow the neckline of the dress.)

And I realized today, what with the crocheting (and knitting today since I had new yarn to play with!) and all, that I am getting ready for Fall. I love Fall. And all Summer I have not been ready for it, but today I am finally getting there. Bring on the spiced cider and scarves!! (But feel free to wait until September, because I know I will need the next month to soak up all the sunshine I can and squeeze every little bit of goodness out of the rest of summer!)

I still have things to add...

... but my ETSY SHOP is up and running again!! Right now I've got some items up for Fall and Halloween, and I'll be adding more items (hopefully) as the day goes on. This weekend is Sweet Pea, so I'll be there most of the day, but we've still got an hour or so before we leave so I'm hoping to get a few more items up! I'll just keep uploading as I have time (hopefully all this weekend while Leif can help keep an eye on Eliana since she is the main reason I don't get much done on the computer these days!) until all of the items are up. My ultimate goal is to have an etsy update each month so items are holiday appropriate and stay fresh! Right now I'm working on Fall and Halloween and Thanksgiving. So keep checking back to see the new stuff!!

Celebrating TWO!

I promised some actual scrappery, so I figured I ought to follow through on that! Here's a little mini album I made using some of Eliana's 2 year pictures. I used these Wipeout papers I won from that Scrapdragons challenge (I sure can drag out free supplies, can't I! LOL!) and I used the Love, Elsie stuff I just HAD to have when I went to Hobby Lobby in Texas last year. I got them, paid way too much for them, and have never done anything with them. So I figured I'd better use them before I didn't like them any more! And I love how the whole thing turned out, so I'm glad I did! Okay... without further ado, here is my 6x6 album celebrating Eliana's 2nd year!