Busy Busy Me

Busy Busy Me……

It’s unbelievable how long it has been since my last post. I decided to go back to work and of course that has taken up most of my time.

I now have a pretty interesting job with very interesting people. Wanda J. is currently training me and I truly believe God has crossed our paths for a reason. She is such a Godly woman. I am so blessed to have her by my side.

And I just recently met one of my co-workers for El Salvador, Gerardo G. I spent all last week training with him. It was fun to exchange culture differences with him. And of course it is always fun to listen to his accent. He spoke very good English though. I’m so glad I always have room for a new friend in my life.

Now back to my love, Crafting. I have been super busy working on homemade Christmas. I can not wait to post some of the awesome things me and my super awesome siblings have been concocting for each other.  

 

I will be relieved once I learn how to balance my busy life.

GISHWHES

GISHWHES

 

Just in case you have been wondering where I have been for the last couple of weeks, well I was kidnapped by GISHWHES!!!

 

 

So, you ask what is GISHWHES? Well I still don’t know but it was extremely fun and something I just couldn’t get enough of.

 

 

Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen

 

There is a team of fifteen crazy, fun individuals that come together to defeat normalcy. You get a huge list of crazy things to do and then take a picture of you or your team (or someone else) doing it.

 

 

Our team name was Kinky Boots loves Dutch Courage. Half of us from Anderson SC and the other half were from the Netherlands. And we had the BEST team ever.

 

 

Below are some of our team’s (kinky boots loves Dutch courage) photos.

 

 

I would suggest you keep your eye out for this next year so you can play too. Plus we got over 104,000 pledges to do random acts of kindness.



Let's see your team displayed like the "Brady Bunch" opening credits except there are 3 rows of 5 pictures (versus the 3X3 we know from the "Brady Bunch" opening credits points). The submission must be 1 image with the 15 frames in it. Each of you must be wearing 70s attire and must look VERY emotionally



Let's see you make a snow angel. But instead of making it from snow, make it from Jello on your kitchen floor

You handing coats you've collected from your closet, friends and neighbors to a local shelter.

Draw or paint a picture of Miss Jean Louis riding a school bus like a horse as it flies off a cliff into a volcano. There can be no passengers and she must have a dialogue bubble above her head that says something she would definitely say at this moment.

Build a teahouse under a bridge from recycled materials. Have a cup of tea in it.

What happens when you roast Barbie and Ken (in an embrace) with an assortment of root vegetables? You will be penalized if you eat the roasted vegetables. You also will probably die as they will be toxic from the roasted plastic.

You and a friend must take at least 50 of your stuffed animals/dolls on a field trip to a grocery store. All of the stuffed animals/dolls must EITHER be attached to your clothing or in a grocery cart or both.

Create a 2 foot-high dinosaur out of sanitary napkins.

Recreate the snake's seduction of Eve at a bus stop. Fig leaf, apple, snake, etc.

a uniformed Veteran.

A four-post, queen-sized bed with headboard and footboard. On the bed: a sleeping person. Over the person: A comforter. Under the person's head: A pillow. Bed, person, comforter and pillow must all be situated in a Wal-Mart parking lot.

A Hell's Angels (or at least a tough & leathered biker) with an authentic Teletubby tattoo.

If your team could give the entire world one piece of advice, what would it be? Have one a team member hold a sign bearing the statement over their head in front of an internationally recognizable landmark.

A photo of a scantily clad fireman (or firemen) whose skimpy attire is made entirely from kale. Model must be posing in front of a fire truck. Bonus points if, behind him, water is shooting up into the air from a hose or hydrant.

Calendar item: Wear cheese and wear it well. You cannot be wearing anything but cheese. You may use any type of cheese you wish. Supermodel it posed next to or on a classic car (a classic car is any car that predates 1980.)

Ever seen the movie "The Hangover"? Let's see the aftermath of the most debaucherous party ever. Photo must be taken at the home of a team member's

Pun item: It's called "Hurricane Sandy" for a reason. Show us why.

A storm trooper in full costume including leggings (not just the mask!) cleaning a pool. We must see someone lounging in a swimsuit holding a cocktail nearby.

Bejeweled Bosom covered with nothing but jewels

A picture of you and a loved one kissing. Here's the catch though - you must have at least 11 food items between your lips and the lips of your loved one.

Sculpt your hair with gel, wires, tape, ornaments, animals, and whatever else into what someone would undoubtedly have to classify as the Most Epic Hair Hat the World Has Ever Seen (MEHHWHES)

We've all heard of a "flea circus". What do "flea strip clubs" look like?

Five parking tickets made out to the same license plate on the same day in the same municipality.

Make a gorgeous wig out of cheese puffs and/or popcorn. Go shopping for diamonds wearing it. The image must show you in the wig, at the jewelry display case, talking to the sales agent, as you browse the diamonds.

What do you look like sleeping? What does a close-up of your child smiling in your kitchen look like? What would a cake look like if your child made it with no help from you? And what would your child's face look like if he or she could eat the cake while you're still sleeping? MUST SUBMIT AS ONE PICTURE with the four images edited together in progression side-by-side.

Halloween craft swap 2012

I am participating in my very first craft swap. It was so much fun.

I was really nervous on what to send. I didn’t want to send too little and I didn’t want to send too much.

The blogger Pink Stitches provided a flicker account so we could share what we were sending but I didn’t want to be influenced either. So I just tried to send what I wanted to receive.

I sent one the skull aprons I made because I think it’s the cutest thing in the world.

I also made her a fall mug hugger like the one I have except I made hers reversible.  

And last but not least is the photo holder with a cute card attached. I will post a tutorial on this soon.

I can’t wait for her to receive it. I will update once I receive mine in the mail.

Happy Fall Ya’ll.

What's a Quilting Guild you ask?

About a month ago, I met a wonderful lady that was purchasing a cutting mat from me. While making our transaction, we chatted about fabric, the cutting board and of course quilting. She then, to my surprise, invited me to a quilting meeting that she is part of. I’m not going to lie; I was so excited I couldn’t think of anything else that day. This lady had made my day but unfortunately I had to wait almost an entire month to go.

So fast forward a month and here we are, the forth Tuesday of the month. Yay! I get there and I see the word “guild” on everyone’s name tag. I’m not sure I have heard of that before. It was the Electric City Quilters Guild to be exact.

Noun 1. An organization of persons with related interests, goals, etc., especially one formed for mutual aid or protection.

To say the least, I had so much fun at my first ever quilter’s guild meeting. My favorite part was the show and tell of course. It was so diverse. I guess I imagined just a bunch of the same techniques but all these ladies from the same group have such different techniques. I snapped a few pictures of some of the show and tell.

This Christmas quilt took my breath away. All I can say it that it was amazing.

 

 

This is the quilt of the person who invited me (June). This was made of blocks made by several different people in the group.  

 

This quilt was done on an embroidery machine.

 

After show and tell we had a quick presentation on Signature Quilts. I have never even heard of those before. It was extremely informative. Basically it is a quilt that has words/names written, printed or embroidered on it.  It was very popular over 100 years ago. This guild is thinking of doing one too. I hope they do because I plan to join this group. Could you even imagine 100 years from now people looking at your quilt with oohs and awes like we do today? Here are some examples of signature quilts. And you can find out more by going to www.quiltindex.org.

This is a wedding signature quilt. This person had all her guests at her wedding sign the blocks and then her mother quilted for her. So sweet.

 

This is an example of a modern day signature quilt. So beautiful.

 Can’t wait to see what’s in store for the meeting next month.

Quarter Ring by Austin

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. My son made this ring for his senior project. It is made from a quarter. He worked really hard on it and I am very proud. Total cost of this ring is $0.25. I think he is going to make me one too.

 

 

Fall Kitchen Sign

Fall is in the air and I love it. This nice weather has really gotten me in the fall spirit. I thought I would kick off fall with the first fall craft of the season. I basically just found a bunch of different tutorials and came up with this.

Today I learned how to print on burlap and now I want to print on everything. It was so easy. Just follow this link to the tutorial that I used. She explained it so well. I found my burlap at Goodwill for $0.75 on Labor Day so I paid $0.35 for it.

I also learned how to make fabric flowers through thistutorial. I don’t think mine came out exactly right but they still look great. I used the left over scrap fabric from my fall quilt, so no cost there.

The brown back ground is also left over fabric glued on a metal board I purchased from Michael’s for $0.25. I also bought the leaves at Michael’s with a coupon for $1.00.

 I have a really cute sign for my kitchen for $1.55.

New Fire Pit

We have always had a fire pit but it has always been one that is portable. And of course after so long the bottom falls out and it gets trashed and then we spend another $100 on another one. Well, my husband has wanted to build on for years now and I finally said let just go for it. If any knows me I jump onto the Pinterest.com and start my search. We got some ideas but nothing really stood out to us. I wanted below ground so that we could sit around it and we also needed to tie it in with our porch. So this is what we came up with.

 

My dad had a lot of brink left over from building his house. We hit it first. To be honest, we did not have a plan. We just made it up as we went along. And that is how we do most of our projects. First decision was – how big? Answer was as big as the dinning room table. And yes it grew a little.

 

 

We made our circle on the grass and started digging.  Well, my husband did, my job was to snap pictures. After we got the hole dug, made it semi-level and lined it with gravel, we started stacking the bricks. We decided on three high was good enough for us.

 

It’s time to go to Lowes. We bought three 8’ brown metal edging, 16 bags of pebble rock, 21 pavers the size of the brick (any solid brick will do), some adhesive and black plastic.

 

We placed our metal edging down to where we liked it and hammered it into the ground. Everyone’s design will be different. Then removed the grass from the area between the edging and the pit and sprayed with grass killer.

 

We also, glued the bricks together and the pavers to the top with the adhesive and let dry for 24 hours.

 

The next day we laid the black plastic down on the bare ground and filled up the area between the edging and the pit with pebble rock. I picked out three flagstones and laid them in the pebble rock.

 

This was really simple and looks great and very affordable. Good luck with yours.