Posts from the ‘Celebrate’ Category

Dec 28

2011: Looking Back

1. Bible Verse: In 2011, I resolve to wear the full armor of God, so that I can stand against the devil’s schemes. Ephesians 6:10-18

2. One Word: Wear – to update my dated wardrobe and to wear the fruits of the spirit

Highlights and Milestone

Our friends Jenny, Kody, Harry & Max moved to CA. We hope you move back soon.
I read many, many books. True, I didn’t review the books, but I read a LOT! I also discovered how much a love reading ebooks. It is SO easy to carry around and read multiple books.
Started my 4th year as a Cub Scout Cub Master. I can’t believe PJ is a WEBELOS.
I have a daughter in high school!
My Aunt, Dee Smith passed away.
My daughter’s 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Karen Farr passed away.
Made a rainbow cake.
Big ER bill from Rick’s 104 temp!
Signed up for the Sketchbook Project
Opened a Pinterest account.
Received my first nasty blog comment: That is a super-peachy-keen post. Thanks for really blathering on like that! Seriously, I don’t think I could have spent more effort wishing for something heavy to fall on me to erase that nonsense from my mind! Thank you anonymous poster, cause it made my day.
I reconnected with tons of high school friends. Thank you Facebook.
Professional photos made for my blog!!! Huge milestone!
Our house flooded due to a faulty washing machine.
Posted my Lady with a doll postcards on Flickr.
Bought a few digital magazines. I’m still on the fence out ezines.
Addicted to chalkboard paint.

Trips

To Orlando – twice. Once with the family (and we went VIP) and once with Olivia and Brittany
Attended the Iron Bowl
Attended Blissdom in Nashville. Met some wonderful friends: Kate Spears, Sandy Moss, Kristen Gann Lyons
To Gatlinburg with the Dixons.
And a few trips to Birmingham and Decatur for work and family.
Accidental trip to Georgia.

Art

It’s been a big art year for me. Below are the highlights

Returned to school – after an 18 year absence.
Remembered how much I love studio classes
Made an “A” in my first class
Painted some beautiful artwork.
Won a poster contest for Gulf Coast Clay. Very exciting! My painting will be printed on postcards, t-shirts and posters.
Developed my own artistic style.
Made a beautiful quilt & monogrammed sheets for my mother.
Submitted projects to Lettering Delights and One Pretty Thing.
Participated in the Blogger’s Quilt Festival with my mini quilt.
Designed some fabric at Spoonflower. I even entered a few contest!
Swapped a few potholders on Flickr.
Learned I love studio classes.
Bought sketchbook for me and Olivia: The Sketchbook Project
Signed up for several Internet Art classes: Inspired Doodles, Silly Redux, LetterLAB, Handlettering and Oodles of Doodles

Olivia

Olivia received a fancy schmancy camera for Christmas.
Olivia attended two semi formals this year.
iPad for Birthday.
Ziplining in TN

PJ

Passed 3rd grade.
Xbox for birthday
Tablet for Christmas
Braces on his teeth
Cub Scout Christmas Parade
Cub Scout camping
Was in a pirate show
Indoor skydiving

Best Books I read in 2011

Below are the stand-out, unforgettable books I read in ’11.

Tiger’s Curse By Colleen Houck
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Tiger’s Voyage By Colleen Houck
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Tiger’s Quest By Colleen Houck
The Help by Katheryn Stockett
One for the Money by Janet Evanovich – I’m rereading this to get ready for the movie. I had forgotten how entertaining it is!!!
Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans – loved it and my 10 yr old son loved it too.

Favorite Beauty Products

Refer to this post for my favorite beauty products.

2011 Resolutions Revisited

Read one book a month – DONE is spades – see my 2012 reading list here.
Review each book after reading it – not so much, but if I enjoyed it, I usually spread the word to my friends and FB
Blog more often – yes and no, mostly no.
Commenting on at LEAST 4-5 (One per work day!) blogs per week – NO, but I want to try this again next year.

Looking Ahead: 2012

I will post my 2012 resolutions on Jan 1.

Feb 27

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Gatlinburg Vacation

Last week, we vacationed in Gatlinburg, TN with another family.

We had a blast. I most enjoyed the rope course at Wonderworks. The price of admission was worth the rope course alone! I can’t believe there is a WonderWorks so close to my home. We might drive over one weekend.

PJ rock climging at WonderWorks:

We also had a great time with Indoor Skydiving. PJ enjoyed Ober Gatlinburg Ski Resort the most. He can’t wait to go Snowboarding again.

Rick enjoys Gem Mining. Rick bought the $100 gemstone bucket and the kids got a fossell and arrowhead bucket. With Rick’s booty, he had a beautiful ring made for Olivia.

The girls:

My Girlfriend, Jen taking a picture of me at Laurel Falls.

Olivia in the tree:

Jan 26

My Valentine Kitchen

It’s confession time. I seriously love to decorate for holidays. I know, I know. Get a life, right?

I decorated the cute little shelves in my kitchen with some valentine items. The pots on the top shelf were thrifted, then spray painted matte white. I whipped up the felted love cozy. Doesn’t black free form embroidery make all the difference?

I even made hats for my vintage dog salt & pepper shakers. I think they need a collar, too. Yes?

Dec 18

Merry Christmas to Mom

Could you resist this?

My dog, Dash, is begging for… food. He loves people food. He is a very fat Italian Greyhound.

My Cricut experience

Yesterday, while shopping in Walmart with my hubby, I noticed the Cricut machines were on clearance sale. I kinda want one and kinda don’t. I looked at the box (priced at $198 from $225) and decided I didn’t want one (for that price).

This morning, I checked my emails (the whole family is still asleep and I am cherishing the quiet!). I received a weekly newsletter from one of my two favorite font addiction site (Lettering Delights) (The other is ScrapNFont). I really liked the graphics they were selling, but what the heck is an SVG file? I’ve purchased some digital scrapbook elements (just to play with), so I clicked the find out. I was intrigued by the “cuttable” option and clicked a tutorial to find out more. I landed here. Of course, I was intrigued (and starting to want…). Then, I clicked over to the Make the Cut software site. Software was on sale… Bazinga!! (I love Sheldon and Big Bang Theory) I can see the power of converting jpg and other file types to SVG and then cutting them out (which I currently do by hand….). I have tons of font, too. If I could cut fabric with a Cricut, I must have it. A quick google search lead me to this thread. Within mere minutes, I ordered the Cricut (Walmart site to store for $175) and the software. Merry Christmas to me. I can’t wait to appliqué… everything. Just like my embroidery machine.

My Cricut will be delivered to the store next week. I can’t wait!!!!!! I ordered green. hehehe

Don’t tell anyone, but I also ordered 4 new hoops for my embroidery machine. Shhh

Aunt Dee

Do you remember the lovely quilt my mom and I made for my Aunt Dee. Sadly, Aunt Dee passed away. I hope she could feel the love mother and I pouring into the quilt. Dee’s funeral was the most beautiful funeral I’ve ever attended. I want communion at my service, too. Dee, I will miss you.

Machine Embroidery

I want to purchase this embroidery collection for a shirt for my Dad. The designer recommends using a 50-70 wt thread. Not knowing anything about thread weights, I looked up Coats & Clark . I prefer to embroidery with XP thread, as it is not as lint-y (compared to Guttermann). I didn’t find what I needed, so I called customer service. A very help lady pointed me to this page. It lists the weight of all their threads. I hope you find it helpful, too.

Curls & Swirls Blog

I wanted to recommend a friend of mine, Rachel. She is an artist and she has the cutest blog, Curls & Swirls. Rachel paints the cutest pictures for teachers. Rachel painted a super cute picture for Mr. Simmons’ Pirates. If you adore your teacher, you might want to order one too. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture before I wrapped it. Boo

Twinkle Toes

Have you seen this gals pedi? I must have twinkle toes , too.

Homemade Oreos

My dear friend Tammy’s son is allergic to eggs. As a result, he has limited food choices. His favorite cookies are Oreos. When I saw this recipe, I knew I had to make them. http://www.kitchenist.com/cooking/sweet/blast-from-the-past-homemade-oreos/609 I am hoping me and Tammy can have a baking day. We haven’t spent time together in ages. Busy, Tammy?

Future Writer

?Yesterday, I found a blog post by my daughter from over 2 years ago. It was full of angst over a boy. I could feel her pain, but I could also see a great writer. I encouraged her to start writing again (She had a very popular NeoPets blog, back in the day). This morning, I awakened to find this gift.

She wrote a story about her brother’s excitement for Christmas. Very nice job, Olivia. Thank you. Keep writing. I make a good living by writing and you can too.

Crafting

You know I can’t go a day or two without crafting something, right? My kitchen table needed… something. Flowers would look nice, but I have bad luck with Poinsettias and my life is too busy to upkeep fresh flowers (who wants to cut stems and change water, when you can be sewing?). I remembered the tissue paper flowers I’ve seen on the internet and whipped up a few. I’m not in love with the pinecone. Today I will remove it and add one more flower. I think I will add fake snow to the vase, too.

Don’t they look real? I used this tute. I love this blogger’s idea, too.

Christmas Ornaments

Have I showed you my Shiny Brites? I found these at the Thrift Store (my fav) in the original box. I have six. They really add something special to my tree.

And here is the ornament PJ made in school. Beautiful, yes.

He also made this one. Not sure what to think.

Dec 14

Christmas Band Concert and other highlights of my day

I had the pleasure of attending my daughter’s band concert tonight. The band sounded great.

My daughter is behind the kid in the red Santa hat. I could never get a photo with her in it. Dang hat.

But, here is my sweetie after the concert. These photos were taken at my Mom’s house. Do you like her Florida Christmas Tree?

And here:

Isn’t she pretty? Just like her Ma.

At the concert, I saw this lady with an awesome Christmas blazer.

Here is a close up of the fabric.

I bet you anything she made that jacket. I wish I had one. Maybe not as bright, but just as Christmassy.

A few weeks ago, ALL YOU magazine sent me a sample of Quaker Oats to sample and survey about. My sample did not arrive until after the survey expired, so I was unable to participate. Good thing, too. Because my sample was way too sweet. I could barely stomach it. At Target this weekend, I purchased a new (at least new to me) flavor of Instant Oatmeal, Apple Cranberry Almond.

It is so good. I can’t wait for breakfast, so I can eat it again. Doesn’t this morning breakfast look yummy?

I have a work desk, but for the past few weeks I’ve worked at the kitchen table. Not sure why…

This picture is to prove I do cook… sometimes.

And, I cook Oatmeal nearly every morning. Does that count?

Remember my cheesecake pillows from yesterday? Dash is the only male in my household who likes my pillows.

This weekend, we ate at our local Chinese buffet. Gimme a break. We had a Cub Scout Christmas parade and I was too tired to cook. I know fortune cookies are a bunch of hooie, but take a look.

If my sweet boss is reading this, Keep Calm and Carry On. I’m sure it’s a fluke.

Photo from Mad Maydel

Dec 13

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I’m having a cheesecake Christmas!

I’m so glad today was Monday. I needed to go back to work, so I could take a break from my sewing machine. Wait till you see what I made yesterday.

I couldn’t wait for my hubby to come home from his hunting trip to see them. Let’s just say he didn’t care for them as much as I did. I even made him one….

The fabric is by Alexander Henry and is the “all I want for Christmas” print.

Don’t my new pillows look just as good on our bed as on the sofa?

Each year, I make my kids a Christmas bed. This year, I decided to make myself one. Doesn’t that bed put you in a festive mood?

Have you seen this greeting card site? http://www.bluebirdnotes.com/index.php I am dying to create a graphics set. I wish there were Christmas cards, but this site seems Israeli based and is geared towards Hanukah. I dropped them a note to inquire about submissions.

Karen over at www.sewmanyways.blogspot.com had a great idea for a magnetic sewing pin holder. At my last thrift store visit, I shopped around for a cute Christmas dish. This weekend, I finally found one. Check this out.

And here is the backside.

I think I paid a buck for the dish. The magnets were the most expensive part. After Christmas, I will soak in water to reuse on another seasonal dish. Very easy and festive.

Have you purchased your ticket for Blissdom? - I’ve got mine and I am ready to go. I attended Blissdom 09 and learned tons about blogging. At that point, I had been blogging for a good year. My readership was up, life was good. At the seminar (in ’09) I learned about monetizing my blog. Very quickly, my blog went from fun zone to a full time job and I quickly burned out. I’ve taken a good year off from blogging and I feel refreshed. I also learned that I DO NOT want to monetize my blog. I just want a place to share about my kids and my crafts. Fair enough. If you are a blogger and are interesting in taking your blog to the next level, you should definitely attend. I’ve booked my room at the Opryland Hotel, so email me if you are interested in sharing a room. Check out my Blissdom badge. I feel so proud.

Yesterday afternoon, my daughter convinced me to take her to Target. It was freezing and I didn’t want to go, but somehow I went. Anyway. Our TJ Maxx is next door to the Target, so I HAD to check out the new stuff before heading home. I’m glad I did, cause look at my new rug.

Isn’t it gorgeous? (Merry Christmas to me…) In the photo, it looks like a shag rug, but is really is VERY NUBBY felted wool…. rope? The shag part is really 1/2″ thick and very mop like. I have no idea what it is called, but is is gorgeous. Now, I need to get a rug pad, cause it slips all over the floor, despite the weight….

Have you ever found a meteorite? My hubby has.

Isn’t that cool? This “rock” is slightly magnetic and very melted looking. He had a knowledgable friend (rock and mineral dealer) confirm. It is the genuine stuff. Rick also collects arrowheads. These are my favorites:

Dec 12

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The house is DONE

My home is finally decorated for Christmas. This year, I put up my Christmas decorations much earlier than usual and I am glad I did. I always run out of time and never really enjoy my hard work. I am sold on decorating right after Thanksgiving. Want to see my pix?

I purchased some new shelves for my Kitchen.

I added the Command Adhesive hooks. The shelf is from Target. I found the finger tip towel and the Thrift store and embroidered it with “Merry Christmas from the Kornis Family.” I made the Longaberger basket when mom and I traveled to Dresden, OH. I also made the folded tea towels.

And here is my coffee station.

I purchased the Babushka paper towel doll at our church’s Christmas Bazaar. I want to make my own version next year. I purchased the shelves at Jo-Anns and the orange plastic dish (I wish it were red!!) is from the thrift store. I keep my coffee, sugar and spoons in upcycled pickle jars. I added command adhesive hooks for the coffee mugs. The boxer dog salt & pepper shakers are from the thrift store. Notice the magnetic strip below the window? I enjoy displaying greeting cards and recipes.

And this is my favorite Thrift Store find.

I’ve used this display stand for everything! I especially like using it for cupcakes on birthdays. But, for the holidays, I’m using it to display my Christmas snack set. I added the Ikea hooks for the mugs. The Christmas napkins are from the… Thrift Store. Where else?

Do you surf the ‘net looking for ideas?

I saw something similar to this and loved it. The toy toolbox was already in my garage, so I upcycled it with some Christmas stuff. I wish the toolbox was darker. I may spray point it brown…. or red.

Now, on to the breakfast area.

In the fall, I hung the picture ledge shelves (from Target). I’ve really enjoyed having a place to display my cookbooks. See the empty picture frame? That is my project for today (along with pillows for the bedroom and LR). I really need to step away from the computer…

Want to see the Living Room?

Overboard on the mantle, no? Do you like the white sconces? I purchased the pair at the Thrift store. They WERE harvest gold, but I sprayed them matte white. Much better.

Do you watch the DIY Dish? After watching this episode, I was inspired to decorate these gift boxes.

Didn’t they turn out cute?

After sewing like a mad woman for the past 6 weeks, I finally had time to work on a small project for myself. I was heavily inspired by this picture. After see this, I wanted to crayon a mini quilt. At 9pm, I had no ideas of my own, so I “copied” this mug rug. What do you think of my version?

Not bad for my first attempt at free motion quilting over crayon. I am going to try this technique again today (for the empty picture frame I showed you above), but this time with my own design.

Before I close, I wanted to show you a cool find. Did you know Crayola makes dry erase crayons?

Don’t you love my dry erase board? It’s from Southern Living At Home (now Willow House). (Shhh, it’s a Thrift Store find.).

Dec 7

Getting ready for Christmas

I have a love/hate relationship with Christmas. I love the holiday, but hate the prep work. I enjoy making gifts, but I hate the perfectionism that comes with crafting. I love dreaming of the perfect gifts for my family and friends, but hate that I can’t afford the perfect gift. Um, I could keep going, but I think you get the idea.

for the past month, I’ve been sewing my fingers to the bone (and wishing I could post pix here and that would spoil the surprise) and my list is FINALLY whittling down.

Back during the summer, I purchased a clear glass lamp and linen shade from Target. I had visions of filling the lamp base with holiday goodies. Right off the bat, I made a mushroom scene and…. Never changed it.

It was time to replace the mushrooms with a winter/Christmas decoration. This is what I came up with.

Pretty cute, eh? Here is a picture of the whole lamp.

I liked my snowman so much, that I’ve started on some more.

My second batch will be covered in string AND glitter. I will use these to make cutie patootie gift boxes.

Today at lunch I picked up the reprint photos of PJ’s Fall School pictures.

Handsome, right?

Oh, speaking of PJ, last weekend at our Church Children’s Christmas Party, PJ and Harry (PJ’s best friend) had their picture made with Santa.

And, Olivia got braces.

Mar 17

I finally finished my Purl Girl. While this isn’t my first doll, it is my first hand sewn, felt doll. The last doll I made was a bunny rabbit in the early ’90s (remember those?) It is certainly my first hand sewn ANYTHING.

As with all handmade items, she is not perfect. I had a really hard time with her face. Lesson learned: sew the facial features before sewing on her hair.

I purchased some skin tone wool felt to make another doll. I think the next one will be better, but for now, she looks really cute on my St. Patrick’s Day wreath.

I pinned a green flower in her hair (seriously, I used a corsage pin) to be more festive. I think it works…

Mar 12

St. Patricks Day themed bed: A Tradition

Each holiday, I decorate a festive themed bed for my children. For my son’s St. Patrick’s day bed, I sewed a pillowcase. (This is the best pillowcase tutorial – http://with-heart-and-hands.blogspot.com/2009/05/burrito-or-magic-pillowcase-tutorial.html)

I purchased the green sheets, but I already had the green blanket. The stripped throw blanket at the foot of the bed is off the dollar yardage table at Walmart. Next time I change his sheets, I am going to monogram his initials on the flat sheet.

I am truly considering sewing red minkee fabric to the green stripped fabric for use at Christmas time…

The bunting banner is pinned to the wall with straight pins. The shamrocks are from Jo-Anns.

The book on his pillow is about St. Patrick’s Day.

Here is a close up of the monogrammed pillow.

Don’t you just love the festive fabric. I wanted to sew a mushroom stuffie for his bed, but PJ didn’t like the idea.