Wow. I actually mowed the lawn today for the first time since we bought the house. Tracy had mowed once and my friend, Louis, mowed the second time to help us out while we were moving.
I am going to have to get used to a zero turn mower! It was both scary and fun at the same time. I really need to find a manual for it so I guess I'd better start looking online!
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Moved
Whew. I am finally moved into a house. My husband and I bought his parent's house and closed on it September 30th. It took us close to a month just to move next door. Literally next door!
We now have a large living room, large dining room, big bathroom, two bedrooms (my granddaughter just loves "her" bedroom that she shares with her little brother and even enjoys cleaning it up!), a fairly small kitchen and a small back room which will be nothing but craft stuff for me! (We won't count the fact that the deep freezer is in that room.) Maybe once I finally get everything unpacked I can get back to crafting and scrapbooking. I am slowly decorating the house while unpacking a box here and there.
It is hard to deal with all this clutter from the boxes and totes, but it could have been worse. We donated a truck load of stuff to the Salvation Army because we just didn't have the time to mess with having a yard sale. As I unpack our things, I plan on getting rid of even more stuff, but this time we will have a yard sale. I need to get things unpacked and put away before Christmas so I can decorate the house. And yes, I will be getting rid of some of our Christmas decorations that we don't use or don't like any more.
We now have a large living room, large dining room, big bathroom, two bedrooms (my granddaughter just loves "her" bedroom that she shares with her little brother and even enjoys cleaning it up!), a fairly small kitchen and a small back room which will be nothing but craft stuff for me! (We won't count the fact that the deep freezer is in that room.) Maybe once I finally get everything unpacked I can get back to crafting and scrapbooking. I am slowly decorating the house while unpacking a box here and there.
It is hard to deal with all this clutter from the boxes and totes, but it could have been worse. We donated a truck load of stuff to the Salvation Army because we just didn't have the time to mess with having a yard sale. As I unpack our things, I plan on getting rid of even more stuff, but this time we will have a yard sale. I need to get things unpacked and put away before Christmas so I can decorate the house. And yes, I will be getting rid of some of our Christmas decorations that we don't use or don't like any more.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Getting ready for the holidays already...
I have been trying to work on some of bead kits and getting them done for the holidays. I am also planning on trying to get the Christmas ornaments done early for the kids on my school bus this year. I am not sure how many I will actually need, but I usually plan for around 100 which is more than needed.
Since I have been spending my summer babysitting, I haven't been able to get much done, including studying for my General Class Ham license test. I hope to be able to study before test time comes around or I will be waiting until next year!
Since I have been spending my summer babysitting, I haven't been able to get much done, including studying for my General Class Ham license test. I hope to be able to study before test time comes around or I will be waiting until next year!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Hancock Fabric's 50% off sale!!
I convinced my husband to stop at Hancock Fabric yesterday before I took him on to work. I bought some patriotic fabric for a couple of wreaths I plan to make and sell. I also found some fabric on the clearance rack, but I have no plans for it as of yet.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
New HT bought at the Morganton Ham Fest
My husband bought me a new Handy Talkie at the Morganton Ham Fest on Saturday. I am in the process of trying to figure out all the features on it now. He programed the local repeaters in for me so I don't have to figure out how to do that, but I still need to know how. I guess I will learn the most by reading the book that came with it and playing with all the cool features!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Scrapbooking
I am hoping to start doing some scrapbooking again real soon. Now that I have a bunch of photos of me from when I was a kid, I have all kinds of ideas running around through my head!
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
I have been too busy to do any crafting!
Over the last few weeks, I have been too busy to get ANYTHING done! Between my best friend's mom being in the hospital and my daughter needing me to run her hither and yon, I have very little time to myself.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Quilt Tops
I have finally decided that it is time to start using up some of my fabric stash. Well, not actually my stash, but some fabric squares that my best friend gave to me a couple of years ago. She had gotten them from a small fabric store downtown years ago and had never done anything with them, so since we are always swapping stuff back and forth, I ended up with the majority of them.
I squared them up as best as I could using my rotary cutter and ruler ages ago and put them back in the zippered pouches. About a week ago, I decided to get them out and start sewing those squares together. I made one complete top, not quite twin size, but bigger than crib. The way I figure, by the time I add the batting and the backing, etc., it should fit a twin sized bed.
I have sewn together enough pieces out of just once set to make six or seven quilt tops - all the same size, color and pattern! Once they are finished, I can get started on some of the other squares I have done.
I told my husband, Tracy, that I might end up donating all these to a local charity or hospital when they are completed. I know there are plenty of charities around that could use quilts for children who have been abused and taken from their homes, mom's who have left their abusive husbands, preemies in the hospital, etc. Just something as simple as a homemade quilt or blanket can make all the difference in the world to a child or a parent, knowing that someone cares and that they now have something they can carry with them forever.
Since I had my grandkids this weekend, I didn't get to do any sewing on the tops, and yesterday I played chauffeur for my daughter who had to put their truck in the shop. Today will be a good day to get back to sewing those tops together.
I squared them up as best as I could using my rotary cutter and ruler ages ago and put them back in the zippered pouches. About a week ago, I decided to get them out and start sewing those squares together. I made one complete top, not quite twin size, but bigger than crib. The way I figure, by the time I add the batting and the backing, etc., it should fit a twin sized bed.
I have sewn together enough pieces out of just once set to make six or seven quilt tops - all the same size, color and pattern! Once they are finished, I can get started on some of the other squares I have done.
I told my husband, Tracy, that I might end up donating all these to a local charity or hospital when they are completed. I know there are plenty of charities around that could use quilts for children who have been abused and taken from their homes, mom's who have left their abusive husbands, preemies in the hospital, etc. Just something as simple as a homemade quilt or blanket can make all the difference in the world to a child or a parent, knowing that someone cares and that they now have something they can carry with them forever.
Since I had my grandkids this weekend, I didn't get to do any sewing on the tops, and yesterday I played chauffeur for my daughter who had to put their truck in the shop. Today will be a good day to get back to sewing those tops together.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Trying to get organized...
Today I need to start working on some organization for my craft room. I have my fabric folded neatly and in the chest on chest. I have my books neatly on the shelves. I have the dresser in the closet with the scrapbook containers on top of it. I am thinking about trying to get my soap and bath salt stuff organized on a shelf so it will be nice and neat. Hmmm...maybe I can use those little plastic purple containers to hold my fragrances and colors...and the bigger ones to hold the glycerin bars. Just a thought anyhow.
Okay. That worked. Thank goodness for a set of "Really Useful Boxes". That is what they are called. Honest. It is a set of five plastic nesting boxes. The handles actually hold the lid onto the box. The set I have has 0.3 liter, 0.7 liter, 1.6 liter, 3 liter and a 9 liter box. They can be found at
I put my additives like oatmeal, strawberry seeds, etc. in my 9 liter box, the raffia, bath bomb molds, silver cord, and some finished bath gels/lotions in the 3 liter box, fragrances and essential oils in the 1.6 liter box, and the dyes in the 0.7 liter box. That only leaves me the 0.3 liter box, but it is really only big enough to hold business cards. And I am not yet ready for those. Maybe in a year or so when I have a bunch of stuff made up and am ready to actually attempt to sell some of my products.
In the meantime, back to organizing!
Okay. That worked. Thank goodness for a set of "Really Useful Boxes". That is what they are called. Honest. It is a set of five plastic nesting boxes. The handles actually hold the lid onto the box. The set I have has 0.3 liter, 0.7 liter, 1.6 liter, 3 liter and a 9 liter box. They can be found at
I put my additives like oatmeal, strawberry seeds, etc. in my 9 liter box, the raffia, bath bomb molds, silver cord, and some finished bath gels/lotions in the 3 liter box, fragrances and essential oils in the 1.6 liter box, and the dyes in the 0.7 liter box. That only leaves me the 0.3 liter box, but it is really only big enough to hold business cards. And I am not yet ready for those. Maybe in a year or so when I have a bunch of stuff made up and am ready to actually attempt to sell some of my products.
In the meantime, back to organizing!
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
I donated a bunch of craft stuff to a local school
About a month ago, I got an email from our local scrapbook store, Forever Your Memories, and they were asking for donations of any and all kinds of craft items to go to a local school for disabled children.
Well, I jumped on the bandwagon. I had three boxes and three garbage bags full of craft stuff that I was not going to use or wasn't planning on using in the near future that were just sitting around collecting dust. I called up the teacher who wanted the donations and got rid of all of my excess stuff in one fell swoop!
I like knowing that my donation is going to help the disabled children in the area and not be sold like it would have been if I had donated the stuff to The Salvation Army.
If you are like me and have a lot of extra craft supplies and fabric laying around that you either don't like or won't use, you might want to check with some local places in your area and see if they want any of it. Schools, shelters for abused women, orphanages and the like, will most likely be willing to accept your items. It not only helps them out to keep their costs down and gives the women and children something to do, but it helps to declutter your home as well!
Well, I jumped on the bandwagon. I had three boxes and three garbage bags full of craft stuff that I was not going to use or wasn't planning on using in the near future that were just sitting around collecting dust. I called up the teacher who wanted the donations and got rid of all of my excess stuff in one fell swoop!
I like knowing that my donation is going to help the disabled children in the area and not be sold like it would have been if I had donated the stuff to The Salvation Army.
If you are like me and have a lot of extra craft supplies and fabric laying around that you either don't like or won't use, you might want to check with some local places in your area and see if they want any of it. Schools, shelters for abused women, orphanages and the like, will most likely be willing to accept your items. It not only helps them out to keep their costs down and gives the women and children something to do, but it helps to declutter your home as well!
Friday, February 01, 2008
My latest beaded items: Bells and Christmas Circles
I have been very busy over the past month making a bunch of beaded Christmas Bells and Christmas Circles. I got the patterns from one of my Yahoo Group friends who had made some. I had looked for the bell pattern for over a year and the only pattern I could find I didn't like.
I decided that I would make a bunch of each in a multitude of colors. In fact, Since I took these photos, I have made others in different colors, like red and green bells and red and clear bells. They almost look like candy canes they way the stripes turned out on them.
I have three round Christmas tins filled up with bells and circles now. I just love making them and they are so easy to do. You just need to invest in a lot of beads if you plan on making a bunch of them. I had a lot of trouble finding the oat beads in silver and gold, but I finally found a place in Gastonia, NC call Mary Jo's that had them. (Mary Jo's is one of the best fabric stores around, but I find all kinds of treasures in there!)
Anyways, what got me to want a bunch of these bells for myself is that I was remembering some of the ornaments that my mom uses to decorate her tree with. My ex-step-grandmother had made a bunch of bells and given them to my mom for her Christmas tree. I always thought they very pretty. I had forgotten all about them until a year or two ago and then went on a manhunt to find a pattern. No such luck. I searched all over the Internet trying to find a pattern for them. I just didn't like the pattern I found. It looked good in the picture, but when I made one, it didn't look like what I wanted.
So when I was in the Yahoo Group, EasyOrnaments, I looked through the pictures and found a lady who had made some bells like I remembered. She sent me a copy of the pattern along with the pattern for the Christmas Circle. And I haven't stopped making them yet!
Here are the pictures of the bells and circles that I have made.
I hope you enjoy seeing these pictures!
I decided that I would make a bunch of each in a multitude of colors. In fact, Since I took these photos, I have made others in different colors, like red and green bells and red and clear bells. They almost look like candy canes they way the stripes turned out on them.
I have three round Christmas tins filled up with bells and circles now. I just love making them and they are so easy to do. You just need to invest in a lot of beads if you plan on making a bunch of them. I had a lot of trouble finding the oat beads in silver and gold, but I finally found a place in Gastonia, NC call Mary Jo's that had them. (Mary Jo's is one of the best fabric stores around, but I find all kinds of treasures in there!)
Anyways, what got me to want a bunch of these bells for myself is that I was remembering some of the ornaments that my mom uses to decorate her tree with. My ex-step-grandmother had made a bunch of bells and given them to my mom for her Christmas tree. I always thought they very pretty. I had forgotten all about them until a year or two ago and then went on a manhunt to find a pattern. No such luck. I searched all over the Internet trying to find a pattern for them. I just didn't like the pattern I found. It looked good in the picture, but when I made one, it didn't look like what I wanted.
So when I was in the Yahoo Group, EasyOrnaments, I looked through the pictures and found a lady who had made some bells like I remembered. She sent me a copy of the pattern along with the pattern for the Christmas Circle. And I haven't stopped making them yet!
Here are the pictures of the bells and circles that I have made.
I hope you enjoy seeing these pictures!
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