Craft Night Tonight!!!

What AM I going to work on???

I'm thinking whatever I do should include one of the Sweet Pea Scraps kits. I'm itching to play with them!!

Happy Birthday to ME!

My birthday was a week ago, but this year I'm having the birthday that keeps on giving, I think! I've been celebrating for weeks now and today I got another birthday gift, this one from my inlaws. I got... A ScorPal!!


I am really very excited about it. In fact, after thanking my mother in law for reading my wishlist, I realized I hadn't even updated my wish list since I had been wanting a scor pal, so I had to then thank her for reading my mind, LOL! Craft night is Monday here at our house, so I'm looking forward to using it then! I'm going to work on stuff for... *gasp* ME! My own crafting!! (I hope)

Hallo-meanie

Some people are Halloweenies, but I am, apparently, a Hallo-meanie. Because, you see, tonight I stole some poor kid's Halloween candy, right out of his goodie bag, and he doesn't even know it yet. Yes, that does mean that I have started making up cute little goodie bags for the little trick-or-treaters that come to our door this year. It also means that I haven't sealed up the bags with their cute little toppers yet, which I should do soon because one poor little kid is now short a box of nerds! I'll have to give that bag to a toddler who is satisfied with Laffy Taffy and tootsie rolls. And I'll have to finish making the bags soon before more of our neighborhood children get gypped!

Martha vs. Maxine

My friend Angie sent me this email today and I figured I'd share it with all of you! =D (I know, really, I don't blog for ages and when I finally get around to blogging THIS is what I give you?! Sorry... ) I thought it was worth a laugh.


And just to let you know which one I am, I just finished loading the dishwasher and one of Ellie's sippy cup lids was particularly stuck. What did I do? Why, I reached for my (cute black and white polkadot) rubber dishwashing gloves, of course! =D

Are you Martha or Maxine?

Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of an ice cream cone to prevent ice cream drips.


Just suck the ice cream out of the bottom of the cone, for Pete's sake! You are probably lying on the couch with your feet up eating it, anyway!



To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.


Buy Hungry Jack mashed potato mix. Keeps in the pantry for up to a year.



When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking pan, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead and there won't be any white mess on the outside of the cake.


Go to the bakery! Heck, they'll even decorate it for you!


If you accidentally over-salt a dish while it's still cooking, drop in a peeled potato and it will absorb the excess salt for an instant 'fix-me-up.'


If you over-salt a dish while you are cooking, that's too bad. Please recite with me the real woman's motto: 'I made it, you will eat it and I don't care how bad it tastes!'



Wrap celery in aluminum foil when putting in the refrigerator and it will keep for weeks.


Celery? Never heard of it!



Brush some beaten egg white over pie crust before baking to yield a beautiful glossy finish.


The Mrs. Smith frozen pie directions do not include brushing egg whites over the crust, so I don't.



Cure for headaches: take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.


Take a lime, mix it with tequila, chill and drink! All your pains go away!


If you have a problem opening jars, try using latex dish washing gloves. They give a non-slip grip that makes opening jars easy.


Go ask that very cute neighbor if he can open it for you.



Don't throw out all that leftover wine. Freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces.


Leftover wine??????????? HELLO!!!!!!!

So there you have it. Which are you? Martha or Maxine?

*GASP* Can it be?!

Really? Is it true? Did I REALLY miss the first episode of MARTHA this season? I suppose it shouldn't surprise me, given that I haven't been able to make MARTHA a regular part of my day for quite a few months now, but there was a time when that would have been unheard of. I've had "September 15" in my head as the season premiere for quite a while now, but somehow it still managed to come and go without my notice. I am sort of saddened by it, and yet I know that it can't be TOO important to me, or I wouldn't have missed it in the first place.

So... I am left pondering the things that have changed and where I am in my life now that I am not receiving daily inspiration from MARTHA. I suppose I will get along somehow, as I have been, but still, it comes as a shock to me.

Now to see if I can watch it online. I really hope I can, too, because I do enjoy it even if 11am is no longer the most convenient time for me. Perhaps she will become my evening crafting buddy as I watch her on the web.

The big picture

Leif got me a wide angle lens for my birthday on the 21st (I know, I know... I'm playing with my birthday present before my birthday, but who can resist?). For some reason I just love that I can stand in a room and take a picture of the WHOLE room in one shot! It makes me giddy.

So.... for the first time ever, here is a FULL picture of my craft room! You can see some of the new arrangement, including the "new" cabinet (that is really about 7 years old and has just been moving with us, unassembled, since we bought it at Ikea in Chicago, back when we lived in Iowa. We finally got it put together!) that forms a nice barrier between the craft room and the rest of the utility room. It's also the place I'm storing my Mary Kay inventory and my Etsy inventory! It's so nice to have a place for these things that Ellie isn't getting into!! You can also see a little more of the larger room, with its peiced-together carpet and exercise equipment. What you can't see behind the camera is a utility sink, and our laundry area. Off to the side just in front of the door you can see in the picture is the storage closet housing my wrapping station! So there you have it... the craft room / utility room tour.

Wrapping Station

Here it is... my little wrapping station in all its glory!

From Ellie and Robert

Just a tiny space under the stairs, but it's perfect for what I need! I love it!

Apron Love...

So the other day I was making fresh raspberry cobbler in the kitchen and I realized I never did post a picture of the awesome apron Dana sent me! In fact, I've pretty much neglected to post any of the great things people have sent me in the last few months, though I'm making an effort to catch up on that. So... Here it is! My new apron! I LOVE it! And if you can't tell from my words just how excited I am about my new apron, let me show you...

It looks like this on one side, and the other side has an olive green and cream design. I wear the other side out most often, but for some reason (probably to match my white shirt) I was wearing this side out on the night we remembered to take pictures. And it can tie in the front or the back, and I do either, depending on the mood I'm in.

As I said before, I love my apron. I wear it frequently and I'm so glad that fall is here so I can start baking up a storm and wearing it all the time!! =D Thank you, Dana! Thank you! Thank you!

Let Her Eat Cake!

This is the layout I did of Eliana's first birthday. You know, the one I made the day before her second birthday just because I couldn't stand the thought of not having it done by the time she turned two? Yeah. The pictures aren't that great because I was tired last night when I was taking the pictures and I didn't want to mess with a decent setup, but it at least gives an idea of what the layout and mini album (which is actually mounted onto the layout) look like. And despite the fact that I didn't print these photos for a year because I was so disappointed in how they turned out, I really like the page and how the whole thing ended up. It's shiny. =D Oh, and it doesn't look nearly as busy in real life, because there are layers and textur to set everything apart. It looks REALLY busy in the picture, but trust me - it looks good in real life!