Not quite done

I have finally discovered the real reason I fell behind in my attempt to do a craft a week. The job I took totally cut into my craft time at night. It is hard to get things done when the time I had to spend doing things and being creative was taken by something else. Now that I know where I went wrong I feel a little bit better about falling short. Here is what I have done.
First off we have a failed attempt to make an ice cream birthday cake. It didn't seem like it would be too difficult...but it didn't turn out...AT ALL. It looked horrible, as you can see, and didn't taste good at all (I guess letting Carson pick the cake and ice cream flavors didn't work out since they didn't mesh well). Oh well AC#40 (Don't mind the single candle-I couldn't find my package of candles, and only came up with one...good thing he is only 5 and won't remember the single candle or disgusting cake :))
Next I attempted another first in baking. I tried to make caramels. My sister Aubry always make the caramel in our house growing up. I never tried it until this year. I cooked it too long so it was really hard. Once you softened it in your mouth for a bit it was fine and tasted good, but it was overcooked. Sorry to those who received the rock caramels. I didn't have time to make more! AC#41. Good thing I'm only attempting to be creative cause I'm in a run of not succeeding!This project turned out. Christmas goody plates for friends. AC #42I had such a busy day the day before we left for vacation (I did the caramels, cookie plates, got a hair cut, and had my piano recital all in one day!) Here are the simple little programs I made for the piano recital. Project #43
Alright now while on vacation my mother-in-law helped me make this awesome scarf. She saw one in the store and thought I could totally make that (which is where I get most of my inspiration for projects I do...seeing, and then attempting). The scarf turned out really nice, but you'll have to excuse my "I just woke up" face in this photo. And I guess the face that 1/4 of the scarf is cut off in the picture. #44Remember the shelf I refinished (see a couple posts down the page). Well I am going to be putting it in Halli's room and wanted something to put on it so I covered these letters with scrapbook paper and fancied them up a bit so I can fill the shelf-hope it looks good when I put it up! AC#45Ok I have two other projects finished, but I haven't taken photos of them yet so I only have 3 left to go. I will finish, I will finish, I will finish. I just have to squeeze them in between work nights.

Almost There

We've been on vacation for 2 weeks now. We've had so much fun, and enjoyed being lazy. I did some projects while we were here as well, and am almost finished. I know the year is over, but I have a handful of projects left to do. I know it is just excuses, but...I was sick last week and didn't get as many projects done as I wanted to, and then I was going to work yesterday and get the last ones done, but I had a killer headache that wouldn't go away. I decided I'm ok being a week overdue-it happens. I'll finish my 52 projects, and then report what hasn't been reported. I only have 4 left to do, but still need to post about all the other ones I've done. The other problem is that I took photos of the AC projects, but we don't have out cord to get the photos onto the computer so I'll have to wait until we get home to put up photos anyways. I figure I mind as well just wait to post about them. We will be heading home Monday so hopefully by next weekend I'll have everything done and be able to make the last AC post.
I'm making an easier goal for myself next year. This was a tough one, but I enjoyed everything I learned! Happy New Year to everyone!

Finally a Post

I'm finally getting around to posting again....I know it has been way too long. Have I mentioned that we have a problem with our computer, and it won't load photos properly? (I know I have, probably about 20 times!) Well I just never feel like trying to load things, so I just never post. Ryan has been researching our problem though, and thinks he has figured out what is wrong. So...hopefully, with $50 and some new RAM we'll get the little problem fixed and loading photos will be a cinch. I'm hoping to do better at posting and reporting what is happening with us more often (starting next year-when we get the RAM in January).
Life has been rolling on for us. We had a great Thanksgiving here with my sister Lindsey, and her husband Kenny. They got to spend a week with us here in Kansas. Also, Ryan's sister Jenny, and her husband Nick got to come up for the day and hang out and eat with us. We were really sad they couldn't stay longer. We are excited to see them some more at Christmas though. They took the time off work for Christmas rather than Thanksgiving-understandable!
Carson's birthday is this week. Our little boy is going to be 5 years old. I can't even believe it! Speaking of birthdays...my sister Aubry had her little girl on the 3rd of December and she is oh so adorable! So if you know her, or just want to see her cute little Jada Monet (cutest name huh?) go check her out here (I think she is putting up photos tonight....if not, they better be up soon!)
I have still been working on my projects. The years is almost up and I still have a handful of projects to do to make my goal. So...hopefully I can get things together and finish it by the 31st! Here's some of them.
#36 I made some pumpkins for Halloween-don't underestimate how much time it took to cut these out and glue together! It was time consumingI made Carson this cork board to match his room. The photo is supposed to be turned the other way, but oh well-you get the idea. Project #37I made two of these earlier in the year...or maybe it was last year. And I have wanted to make one for myself since then. I finally got around to doing and finishing it. I'll hang it in my kitchen after the holidays are over (I've got something else hanging in it's place for the season.) #38A couple friends and I got together and tied the ribbons on these buckets then made some tags for them. They will be perfect for giving away some goodies this month! #39Ok, I know I still have 13 projects to do in just a couple weeks, but I am determined to get them done. They won't be super time consuming projects, but I'll be reporting my progress as they get completed! Here's to a jam packed month of crafting!

Other October festivities

We took a trip to the pumpkin patch in October and the kids both picked out their own pumpkins. Here are their choices (along with the other pumpkins we purchased).
Here they are in front of the pumpkin patch sign this year

Here they were last year (2009) in front of the same sign. Looks like they've grown!

I made these fun snacks for a party my friend had (AC#33)

Here is another one of the projects I did at the beginning of the month #34

And this is the finished shelf i posted about a while back-I just need to get it on the wall #35

Need Motivation

I've been in a creativity slump. I have next to no desire to do anything creative. Ok that isn't true...I have the desire, but I just can't seem to find the time. I've finished a few projects, but I've got to get back on my horse if I'm going to complete my 52 this year! Here are projects 28, 29, and 30
I made this board for Carson to move forward and backwards as he helps out or disobeys. Once he gets to the top he gets a prize. This board has really helped him be nicer to me and Halli-it's been so great, and he works hard to get to the top!
Last week I made these bread bundles to give away to some friends. I cut out this saying and positioned it on the mirror (not an easy feat!). It says 'Home is not a place it's a Feeling' This is the project I'm working on and hope to finish tomorrow. It has been in the works for about 2 months. It was stained and I had to strip it, sand it down, restain it a couple times, and now I'm putting the finishing polyurethane coats on it. I think I can finish it up tomorrow. So hopefully I'll have a post with the finished project tomorrow.

Slow Going

I've been working on some projects, but it has been slow going lately. I've got a lot of plans and ideas, but running low on funds so I'm trying to find inexpensive things to work on..and get creative with my creativity. Here are my latest 2 projects #s 26 and 27
First I made some cupcakes, and a fun lunch for the kids one afternoon. The cupcakes took a while, but they were fun to make and really delicious to eat!
I also made some bracelets for Halli. They were so cute, and she loved them...too bad they were both broken 15 minutes after I put them on her. Hey though, at least I got a photo before they were ruined. I'll just have to put them back together one evening this week while I'm watching Lost. (We've been watching all the seasons so we could watch the final one-we're on 5 now so we're almost there!)I've got 2 more projects that are both half-way completed and will be done in the next couple of days. And another 2 that are in the works of getting started so hopefully I'll be able to stay on top of them.

Keeping Busy

I haven't posted my projects in a long time, so here is what I have been up to besides traveling all summer. This was Halli's birthday cake my sister and I made. We had tons of fun doing it together. Project #22I got to make an awesome cake with my sister-in-law Jessica for the 4th of July. Not only did it look delicious-it really was super tasty. Project #23This has been a work in progress for about a month. Well it took a month to complete, and has now been complete for about a month. My sister Lindsey also helped me with this project-we painted this tree in Carson's room, and I really love it in there! AC #24And finally I did these panels for Halli's room. She had a big empty wall, and I had to do something with it. I got the idea from the make it and love it blog (LOVE that blog!). I couldn't find quite the right color for the middle panel, but this is what I ended up with and it turned out alright. AC #25As a final note-I don't know why the entire post in underlined until now. I don't know how to fix it, and don't have the time to re-type everything so underlined it is going to be.

Vacationing-well some of us

Carson, Halli, and I are in Utah getting ready for my sister Lindsey's wedding. We came out a week before Ryan so I could be here for her shower, and help my mom with everything. We miss Ryan SOOO much, and he is miserable without us, but we have been enjoying our time here (sorry babe). Carson and Halli of course love all the attention, and I love relaxing a bit. It is nice to not have to worry about cleaning my house all day everyday. We have all been enjoying the warm weather here and have spent a lot of time outside. We went on a family walk last night, and I remembered how much I enjoy walks. I haven't gone on many for months cause it has been so cold and windy in Kansas. I think I'll start walking each morning again. I know the kids and I really enjoyed that last summer. We've also been enjoying haning out on the deck-here are a couple photos.I've been reading a lot since I've been here so I've love that. I'm still going strong with all my New Year's resolutions so I'm feeling pretty good about myself for sticking with everything. One of those goals was to read 1 book each month. This month I've read 3 so far-the first 3 books of the Percy Jackson series. I have enjoyed them. I know they are kinda kiddy books, but it's been fun to read some easy going and interesting books.
My mom and I are going to be making my sister's wedding cake for her (the big day is Friday!). We decided to practice today, and this is what we created. I'm counting it for the AC project this week. I've never done a fondant cake before, and it was fun to work with it. It is definitely something I enjoyed. I'm totally making a fondant cake for the next birthday...I guess that means Halli's. Ohhhh I have to start thinking of some fun designs to do for it! I hope it tastes good. I guess we'll find out tonight after FHE.

A different kind of project

Ok so this week I'm taking on a new kind of AC project (just for one week!). Instead of attempting creativity this week, I'm going to be attempting cleanliness. My house is pretty clean most of the time. Everything that is except the basement. We don't go down there much, and especially since it is a disaster. So this week it is me VS. the basement. I hope I come out on top, but with them mess down there I just don't know. Here is what I have to tackle.

I cleaned the food storage room on Friday, and it only took me 2 hours! Basically everything that is in my craft room was in the food room (due to the leakage issue back in January...I never moved everything back to its place.). Here is the finished project though...ahhhh much better! I can actually walk into and around the room instead of tiptoeing over my scrapbook stuff.We had a fun Easter holiday this year. I kids really enjoyed dying the eggs, finding the eggs, and eating the eggs (the goodies inside the eggs that is, they didn't really like the hard boiled eggs). Here they are in action.

Look at this little miss sass!!!

This was at the city Easter Egg Hunt yesterday...more like an egg dash. It was hilarious to watch all the kids scrambling!

Last item on my list of things to blog about-my projects from the month of March. I'm such a slacker at posting. It just takes so much time with our computer being retarded loading photos. Don't even ask me how long it took me to get all these photos uploaded. Maybe I'll get faster at our "new" method of getting photos on here, then it won't be such a huge task. Anyways...here they are. First are the scrapbook pages AC#11. Then I finished another head wrap. I gave the first one I made to my sister Aubry, then I wanted one for myself so I had to do another one. I did the flower on them both too (the photo of the other wrap didn't show the cute flower). I had a friend come over and talk me through the crochet lingo to figure out what the flower pattern says, and it wasn't as hard as I thought! Anyways-headwrap #12I made some Thank You cards for project #13

And this week I tried something I have wanted to do for a couple years and did some egg blowing to decorate some eggs for Easter. It took me a couple eggs to figure out the right force to use when getting the egg out, but I got the hang of it and got to work. Here they are #14.

Little Man Ties

Well Ryan brought his computer home from work with him this weekend, so good news-I can post pictures. I'll be posting all my recent projects and some recent photos of things we've been doing.
My project this week was making some little man ties for Carson. It took me a while to make them, but I think they turned out pretty good. I wanted to get a photo of Carson wearing them, but he is already in bed tonight. This is my project #10. Following that photo is the photos of other projects from recent weeks.





I just realized that half of them are unfinished. I have some work to finish this week. I have tried to put the flower on my headwrap that I made, but I can't figure it out. I have to keep trying and get the flower on there. It looks good without it, but it will look better with it. Then I don't have the face on the bear I made. I don't have the materials for it yet, but I will be getting them next week so I'll have to wait until then to finish it. Sorry for the rambling...I'm just thinking aloud.

These next two photos are just from a night we had some popcicles last week. The kids enjoyed them, and Halli was being so silly. And the last photo was from a couple weeks ago she took a nap on the chair in her instead of in her bed. I went in there to check on her and had to take a photo cause it was silly. I haven't found her like that since...so I don't think she slept very well.




As a final note, I'm running another half marathon next weekend. It's been a year since my last one. I was going to do a full marathon the end of february, but my knee wouldn't let me do a full one so I'm now doing a half next Saturday down in Bentonville Arkansas...yes, home of Walmart. I'll let you know how it goes!