Home Ec!

Leigh-Ann of Freckled Nest, Rachael of Smile and Wave, and Courtney of Courtney Janelle Sews are teaming up to teach a beginner sewing class in August!

The projects look so cute and I think we could all stand to learn a bit more about our sewing machines (even a geek like me who read my machine's manual from cover-to-cover). The fee is $60 and the class starts August 10. I'd really love to take this one, but we'll have to see. But if you have an extra $60 laying around, you should definitely sign up! LA's classes are always amazing. I took her Indie Business 2.0 class a while back and looooooved it. I learned SO much and had such fun. And online classes are always a great way to meet fellow crafters!

xoxo

Spring (Summer) Cleaning

Just as a heads-up, I'll be working on a new blog design tonight and tomorrow. It's about time, right? Since I'm doing it all myself and I am NOT a professional, things may be a little wonky for a while, especially if you view this thing the normal way (in your browser). If you view it through a reader (i.e. Google Reader), I haven't the foggiest idea what may happen. Again, I'm not a professional. Most of what I can do is self-taught trial & error. But all should be resolved and the dust should be settled in a day or so. And hopefully, I'll have a pretty new blog design to show you! Yay!

In the meantime, here's a teensy preview....

(tape via puglypixel.com)

xoxo

Blog It Forward, Indie Biz Style

As a way for students of Elsie, LA & Jill's Indie Business class to connect, support each other and share inspiring things, the lovely Brooke at HumbleB has started a blog chain, not unlike the one over at sfgirlbybay. In our version of Blog It Forward, the participants will each take a day in the upcoming weeks and dedicate a blog post to what inspires them.

Today is the first day of this fun little project and the first post is over at HumbleB, HERE. You can check out the full list of participants and dates HERE.

My date is May 1, but you should check out all the other talented and crafty ladies before that!

Big thanks to Brooke for organizing this!

Today I Love coming up in a bit.

xoxo

SHOP!

So, here's some fun super-exciting (to me) news:
I registered an etsy shop and a domain name that (for now) directs back to my blog.
I'm excited! I'm finally starting to gather some momentum on the "open an Etsy shop" front.

I don't think I'm ready to share the name/address quite yet. I still have more work to do. I'm working on a blog overhaul this week and hopefully by the end of it, I'll be ready. In the meantime, enjoy a song:

Banner.

New banner.... Not sure about it yet. I'll let it settle for a few days then see what I think. Right now, I expect it will be different by Monday.

Banner?

I'm getting tired of my blog banner. Any ideas for a new one?

Weekend Fun and Something New

Weekend fun:
Friday night I drove to my Mom's house in the steady drizzle of rain (that lasted aaaaaaaall weekend!) We got up Saturday morning to go to an "appreciation luncheon" in Washington for Lydia's wedding. It was quite nice for several reasons:
1. I got to see my Lydia, whom I haven't seen for two weeks, since she moved out of her apartment (right next door to me). So, it was good to catch up.
2. I sat with Lydia's other bridesmaids and got to know them a little better.
3. Granny cooked the food and it was awesome as usual.
4. I overheard Lydia's fiancee's mom say the words "stanky legg" in casual conversation. Priceless! (If you don't know about the idiocy that is the stanky legg, go HERE. I would say you won't be sorry, but you probably will.)

After the luncheon, my mom and I stopped by Granny's house where she gave me the quilt she made for me and informed me that she already has several wedding gifts wrapped for us, but that I can't open them yet. But she let me look at the packages. It was pretty funny.

After visiting a while, we stopped in Augusta to order a bridesmaid's dress for Abbie's wedding, then went home so I could pack and drive to Statesboro so that Chris and I could leave for St. Simons. Looooooong day.

We spent two glorious days at St. Simons and I can honestly tell you we did nothing productive and most of our time was spent eating and watching the Memorial Day marathon of Jon & Kate Plus 8. (Why is that show interesting?!)

Now I'm back home and I have class in the morning, but I just really wanted to blog a bit. I feel like I've been slacking off lately. I'm going to blame it on Twitter.

Oh! And I found this amazing blog tonight that just made me smile. Every entry is hand embroidered. This is my favorite post so far:
Seriously, check it out.

And lastly, I've been thinking about making a fun playlist to share some of my favorite music on my blog. I'll probably try to post it sometime later this week so keep an eye out for that.

But for now, bedtime!

Easter, Twitter v. Blog, Craft-tastic!

First of all, let me wish everybody a Happy Easter!

The above is a little something I stitched from yet another Elsie pattern. It was meant to be a brooch for Lydia, but I just never got around to putting the pin back on it and giving it to her. Oh well, maybe she won't mind a bunny pin even though it's not Easter anymore. Bunnies are cute year-round!

Now, I need to address an issue that has become more and more troublesome over the last few weeks. Twitter v. Blog.

I love my blog. I really, really do. I can post pretty pictures, and get things off my chest that the 140 character limit of Twitter doesn't allow me to do. But, Twitter is just so eeeeeeasy. I can even do it from my phone. And, when I update Twitter, my Facebook status is automatically updated. What more could a geeky girl ask for? So you see, I am in a dilemma. Twitter = rock; blog = hard place.

I thought long and hard about this problem and have come up with a compromise of sorts:

I promise you, dear blog, that I will not let Twitter ruin our relationship. I will blog, and not just Twitter. I will post those pictures, and I will write about my day (given something interesting happens). And I will love you blog, above all other social networking web tools (yes, even more than Facebook, MySpace and Flickr.) I will write a new post at least once every week. I will not abandon you.

And to you, my new friend Twitter, I will use you whenever I need to say something and have no other device handy but my phone. You are wonderful, but you will not be a substitute for real blogging. I will use you, but just know that you can never take the place of blogging.

And now, the most disturbingly awesome video currently on YouTube. Watch it all the way to the end. You won't be sorry.... well, you might be a little sorry.

My Heart on the Feeling Stitchy Blog!

If you didn't hear via Twitter, Facebook, or me texting you like it was the biggest deal in the world, my heart was posted to the Feeling Stitchy blog last week!

The funny part is how I found out. I'm a huge fan of the blog. It's in my list of blogs in Google Reader and I noticed there was a new post. I clicked, and my heart was just there on the screen. At first, I thought "Hey! That looks just like my heart! Cool!" Then I thought "Hey! That looks just like my heart. Somebody stole it! Not cool!" Then I figured it out. I posted it to the Feeling Stitchy Flickr pool, and a few days later.... there it was!

So now you know. I'm internet-craft-blog-famous. Jealous?

And now my head can deflate back down to normal size. Thanks for humoring me.

Stitch Spectacular

I just found this blog called Stitch Spectacular. When they say "Spectacular," what they really mean is "the coolest and most amazing stitching you've ever seen in your life."






Do yourself a favor and check it out. Like now.

I Did It!

I finally got this thing redesigned and I'm so happy with how it turned out. I still may do a little tweaking, but for the most part, I'm satisfied. The hard part wasn't colors and pictures and the like... the hard part was adding that stupid left sidebar! I really wanted a left sidebar, but there's not an option for that in blogger, so I had to add it using code. This was my first real attempt at working with code like that. I really didn't think I could do it when I started, but after I figured out what everything was and I got more comfortable changing things, I really enjoyed it. I also added the border around the main text with code.

The banner is fabric I got from my Grandma (I'm fairly sure she made me a dress out of it when I was little) and text from my Label Buddy, scanned into Photoshop and given a simple border. As for the background image, I did that in about 5 minutes in Photoshop. And something you probably won't even notice: the lace footer at the bottom of the page. I know nobody scrolls all the way down there, but I like knowing that if someone should venture all the way down the page, they'll have something pretty to look at when they get there. Silly, I know.

And look! My favorite music now appears as pictures. Ooh, fancy.

I will now share with you one of my very favorite photos of all time:

This was taken one September night two years ago on Sweetheart Circle. Callie and I were shooting for a photo project and Christie and Kristen came to watch. This commemorates the very first Sweetheart Circle Picnic, a Marvin House tradition I sorely miss. The only thing wrong with this picture of the Marvin Girls is that Jessica isn't in it. I like living alone, but sometimes, I just really miss those girls.

Spring Autumn Cleaning

In the next few days, I'm going to try re-designing my blog a bit. If you come here and it looks wonky, come back later and see a whole new.....ly prettified blog!

My 4 Favorite Things

Chris is still in Paris, so I'm still bored. You (who are reading my blog) must suffer.

These are my 4 favorite things in my living room right now... and I only paid for one of them!

1. This lamp was on my grandma's back porch for years. It's a big tension rod that goes from floor to ceiling. It's very cool. It used to be a gold(ish) color, but after a good scrubbing and a can of white spray paint, it's looking much better. And now that I've rewired the whole thing, all three of the lights work. Hooray!
Total $ spent: about $30 for spray paint and electrical stuff to rewire.


2. This is the heart that I embroidered. I blogged about it a while ago. It took a very long time. The frame came from my other Grandma's barn. Again, with the help of a little spray paint that I found under the sink in the Marvin House before I moved, it's practically brand new.
Total $ spent: $0.30 for the embroidery floss.


3. This little beauty I also got out of my Grandma's barn. He was just sitting there, all covered in dust and dirt and full of leaves and muck. Really, who wouldn't love a crazy evil-eyed owl umbrella holder? Well, most people probably wouldn't, but I did! I loved him instantly and brought him home and cleaned him in the bathtub and now he watches over my umbrellas. He's very protective that way.
Total $ spent: $0.


4. Now, this is Kong-in-a-thong. I actually did pay for this guy. But he was so totally worth it. I forgot I had him for years. He stayed in my china cabinet, just sitting there, waiting to be loved. Now he's getting the love and appreciation he deserves. I don't believe they make this particular model anymore, but I got him here: David & Goliath. All they have now is the Bear-in-Underwear version. They used to have Goat-in-a-Trenchcoat and Llama-in-Pajamas.
Total $ spent: more than I care to admit.


So there. Those are currently my 4 favorite things in my living room.

Pretty New Blog, Missing Chris, and New Crafts! (Oh My!)

Firstly, and most obviously, I finally gave my blog a much needed sprucing up. Much better than default settings. I may fiddle a little more, but for the most part, I think I'm happy.

Next, Chris is out of town this week. Where is he, you may ask? He's on vacation with his parents and sister... in PARIS. I know, I'm jealous too. Also, I miss him. I'm not usually the mushy type, but this is going to be the longest we've gone without talking to each other since we started dating..... 5 years ago. We've gone 3 months without seeing each other, but not talking is a whole other ballgame. We can email though... and we figured out a way to text (sort of). So, in order to help with the missing-Chris-blues, I made this page in one of my art journals. It's waaaay more scrap-bookey than I usually like, but it kept me occupied for half an hour.


Thirdly, I finished this a few weeks ago, but it took me a while to take a picture and post it.

The pattern is from HERE (I love her designs). As of right now, it's just on a piece of black fabric... I really have no idea what to do with it from here.

I think that's all for this one. Will post again soon... pinky-swear.

PS... I'm so in love with this right now. Listen to "When U Love Somebody."
" When U love somebody and bite your tongue all you get is a mouthful of blood"

It's a Process....

I'm working on making my blog prettier. Please bear with me. It may take a while.

Bad, bad, bad.

I'm a terrible blogger.

On second thought, I'm a superb blogger with nothing to blog about.

I should stop blogging to go do something to blog about later.

Away I go!

(I just used the word 'blog' 5 times in a very short blog. Make that 7.)

Old Blogs

In case you wanted to know, my previous blog was here, at my myspace page.

And before that, it was at LiveJoural.

But now it's here. Where you are now. Good for you.