Twisty Flower Tutorial on My Youtube Channel

Well hasn't it just been months since I've uploaded a tutorial video??? I know! I'm working on getting better with that, I promise. I'm actually updating the blog regularly, see? So I am trying!

The new tutorial is easy and works with 5 or 6 petal big or small flower punches, die's or personal electronic cuts. You can check the entire video out here: My Youtube Twisty Flower Tutorial Video

The simple steps broken down into images if you don't feel like going to Youtube. 

Start with the tweezers in the
center of the petal and twist.

Like this!

Make four flowers all twisted up

Add a blob of glue (I used a hot glue gun to go faster)
in the center of the flower.

Stick the next flower on top and repeat glue/flower layering.

After four layers this is what you have.
Add a button, bead, seed beads, or bling to the center.

Goals: Part 2

So a few weeks ago I posted Goals: Part One...well, this is part two.

And Part Two is going to be HUGE. It's probably going to take me several months to complete. I need to be okay with that and okay with the fact that it doesn't have to be perfect, just pretty and functional and as long as it's how *WE* like it, that's all that matters. *huge breath* Yea, that's going to be the hard part since I'm such a danged perfectionist!

I've finally decided to organize and DECORATE my apartment. The past few years we've moved every year. First from Dean to a friends while we waited for our apartment to be ready, then to Lake, and now here to Mitchell Wagon. (No, I am not one of those who think someone's going to come and murder us in our sleep or whatever. I love sharing my apartment with people. It's historical and amazing! So yea, it's personal information, but I trust that you're not gonna show up on my doorstep with a poisonous apple!) We've been here just over a year and we really love it. The artist community is great, even though I haven't stepped forward and dove INTO the artist community part. Just being in a building with other artists has been a wonderful inspiration. We also realize that we are so not moving anywhere anytime soon. So, that being said...I'm sick of the second hand, hand-me-down look of our apartment. The only thing on the walls is really pictures of Ryder and most stuff is just a mish-mosh of unorganized crap.

I think I'm going to start in the bathroom. It's the smallest room of the the house and is the only room where there is NOTHING on the walls! (Well, the mirror that originally came with the place and the medicine cabinet, that I just recently learned should contain everything BUT medicine! Anyone else know this?) So I've been scouring Pinterest for ideas and I have a few that I like.

I think my problem is that I have too many ideas and too many thoughts and just don't know where to start. I'm quite overwhelmed. There's so much that I want to do, but I need to take the time to get it all done. I want to put up mirrors over the closet on my back wall. (Our apartment is 75" from back wall to window wall. We have only four windows in the entire main space (two in Ryder's room and none in our!) so lighting at the back of the place is dim. I'm thinking mirrors will bounce light into the back part of the space and will take up a lot of unused whitepace on my walls. I'm thinking some of those tall Ikea style, back of the door mirrors, but doing something unique with the frames, or maybe extending the frames so they're more "bulky" adding maybe 1x4's around it to frame it out with maybe some chevrons or polka dots (really big random polka dots! YUM!)

I want to build a workspace for my craft area. I HATE that my desk faces the wall (only wall....we live in a loft, I have no walls! GREAT for space! I love the openness of my place. I hate that I only have two real walls that I can use. Ya know?)

And Mr. Man himself just found the best deal EVER! An old 4 poster style bed frame for under $15 bucks at Goodwill! We'll be restaining it and possibly upholstering the headboard. (I'm thinking soft (faux) leather or maybe a rich velvet type fabric.) It needs new finials as those were missing, but I get to pick out (or make) the ones that really speak to me. (YAY for no more waterbed frame!!! We'll have a real grown up bed! LOL)

For the kitchen I NEED to restain the table. (An amazing find at an antique store for under $100 for the huge table and six chairs!) When the finish heats up it gets sticky. I'm thinking the varnish they used (eons ago) wasn't meant to hold hot dishes. LOL (Worse yet, I tried to use it as an ironing board since I don't have one and now I have the towel imprinted where I sit! LOL It's actually quite hilarious!) So yea...and I wanna stain it darker and maybe upholster the chairs to have soft, cushy seats. (Jer's not quite happy about that as it's a lot more work involved, but I thin it'll really be worth it in the end.)

I also want to build an island/breakfast nook thingie as we have highly limited counter space. An overhead pot rack would be awesome and I need to come up with ideas for over the cupboards. I have a few, but not in LOVE with any of them. One does keep coming back though. I keep thinking of making a restaurant style menu board with items that we have regularly and decorating the top of the cupboards with milkglass items or some pretty decorative plates/dishes.

We won't even start on how much I want to do for the craft room (other than the work surface) or the living room or the entryway. Ryder's room is pretty much done. I want to paint his bunk beds (red or black) and he really needs more shelving for his Pez collection. I'm trying to wean him out of the "baby" toys and toyboxes. (The two Little Tykes boxes were cute years ago, but they just seem so babyish now. I want him to have a room that feels like a "big boy" room now that he's going to be starting Kindergarten this year. (OMG! Yes, he's five already! Where does the time go?)

See, a huge goal that's going to take me a long time to get done. I'm just scared I'll give up halfway through because it's taking so long. :| Any suggestions on how to keep that at bay and HOW to start? I'm so overwhelmed that I just don't know what to do!

Maskquerade Mask Swap @ LSH

I created the masquerade mask swap at LSH because I collect them and wanted to try my hand at making them. I LOVE how this one turned out and honestly, if it wasn't pink, I'd be really sad to see it go! LOL

The idea behind this mask was that I got a blue cracked paint mask up at the Dells on vacation last month. My partner loved pink and I wanted to try to replicate the blue one I picked up. I just LOVE how this turned out (and if it wasn't pink, I'd be hard pressed to send it! LOL) I TOTALLY love how the silver swirls turned out and the stick is detachable so it's easier (and smaller) to mail. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the feather spray on the side! 

Had a blast making this! I really hope my partner likes it as much!!! :)

Ryder had to try it out!
I don't think it's his color!

Peek-A-Boo!

Journey into the World of Sewing

Oh what was I thinking? Seriously, ME sew? I don't know how to use an iron and I don't even own an ironing board.

That's going to have to change! I had fun making this cute lil purse and please don't laugh that it's off centered and my seams aren't actually even... :\

First attempt at a from scratch project. (World of MANY firsts that is!) First real sewing project (t-shirt re-do's aside.) First attempt at a pocket. First attempt at a box pleat. First attempt at sewing in general!

Purse is complete with lined handle, lined inside and fully lined inner pocket. (Yes, that is a box pleat gusset on the outside pocket, thanks for noticing that and NOT that the pocket is off center!)

Fully lined inside and inner pocket! (Nope, no zipper...didn't have one in the house! LOL

Bottom complete with box corners that are fairly even on both sides. LOL Even with a ruler and tailors chalk one side came out slightly larger than the other. :\

Yes, I know I'm my own worst enemy. I know I'm going to be harder on myself than anyone else will be. Like I said, it is my first attempt at sewing and I'm getting over the fact that it's not perfect. I'm very proud that I didn't make something like a pillow for my first project. (What am I going to do with yet another pillow in my house? The other half would kill me if there was another pillow somewhere! LOL) I know everything I have a problem with will get better over time with practice.

The cell phone pocket on the front it slightly off center, but it's the perfect size for my cell phone. I'm very proud of the fact that I measured right and managed to get the gusset/box pleat (which is again, slightly off center!) figured out. Even if I did forget to line that pocket. LOL (But I did figure out the band at the top *AND* getting elastic in there, so that counts for something, right?)

All kidding aside, I am 100% proud of this project and will use it with pride until it wears out or I decide to make a new one. (Probably the latter. I played tug of war with the straps to make sure they were secure! Those babies aren't going ANYWHERE!)

Dresser for Dresser Swap

Here's the dresser I made for the July dresser swap here on LSH. I love it so much that I'm having a hard time parting with it! LOL (I'm glad I have enough paper and trim to make myself an identical one!)

 What I did different than the first one I made:

• I created the files in Illustrator and turned them into SVG's to cut on my Cricut. Made it so much easier to square everything up and have things go together perfectly. I even included score lines so I knew where to fold. 
• I lined the inside of the drawers and used white gesso for the inside of the top part and the outside of the drawers to hide the cereal box I was using. (Okay, frozen pizza box from the most amazing chicken alfredo pizza!) 

 Supplies used: 

• Papers by K & Co and Recollections. (Cream paper is K & Co and turquoise paper is Recollections.) 
• Brown seam binding 
• Wavy trim from Michael's $1 bin Cream ribbon from Michael's (don't remember the brand) 
• "Feet" are from the $1 store "table scatters" I found a few months ago and match the blue perfectly! 
• Metal studs for my iRock 
• Vintage Photo Distress Ink

Changes, they are a comin'

Where to start? First, I didn't get the uber awesome design team spot. Darn it! I tried! I know I don't have a lot on the blog yet, so it was a long shot....After lots of thought, I've realized I just need to work more. Actually...I've thought a lot recently about what I want and what I want to do. I've come up with some ideas and so me goals and I thought I'd share them with y'all. Well, that and get them down on "paper" and maybe get some feedback.

Goals: Part {one} 

1} I *NEED* to use the camera more. Like every day. 
    {I also really want a new lens. Maybe that 50mm one to start with, but definitely a better zoom or telephoto lens before softball/baseball season starts next year. The "stock" one that came with my "pre-owned" Canon isn't the greatest.}

2} I want to learn to sew. Like seriously sew. Like make the clothes *I* want to wear. (And make cute things for the boy. He's growing so much I have to buy shirts 2 sizes too big to get length!)
    {I am getting a "new to me" sewing machine next weekend. It's a Brother HS-1000 that was only $50. My MiL said it was a good one and would be good to learn on. I'm excited. I want it tomorrow, but I must be patient.}

3} I *NEED* to organize and "clean sweep" my entire house. We've moved so much that there's a ton of stuff we haven't used in the year we've been here. It's time to go through it. It's time to get rid of it. My building is stunningly beautiful. I want my home to match.

4} Which leads us into, I want new furniture. Not just any old, hand me down furniture. We got a flat screen TV (finally!) and it's sitting on my coffee table because I HATE every stupid "media center" on the market. And I refuse to pay $600 for the one I like.
     {And I refuse to pay $120 for the ladder shelf I want...and I want TWO of them!) Nope, we have the woodworking room downstairs. I was great in wood shop in middle and high school. I'm going to build what I want. And I'm going to build it cheaper than I could have paid for it. (I'm working on figuring out how to get a stash of reclaimed/salvaged wood...any ideas?}

5} I need to realize that not everything happens over night. I won't get what I want right away, but I need to learn to be patient. This is going to be my hardest goal. I have no patience. I never have. I probably never will, but I'll at least attempt to fake it while inside I'm bouncing up and down like a 2 year old!

6} And lastly - I want to organize my time better. I want to have time every day to craft or sew, to make dinner, to spend with the man and the boy, to work, to try to get my Scentsy business off the ground so I can quit my "day job" and have more time to spend with my family.

There are so many things that I want to do that I don't know where to start. I'm so overwhelmed right now. And to make matters worse, I have to actually work next week! (LOL Yup, in the smack dab middle of summer break, I have a week to work!) But I volunteered to be a "Crew Leader" at VBS this year. I mean, I'm one of the few staff of Kids Klub that's not working summer "kamp" so it's one way of getting to see the kids before school starts. The mini gets to go to VBS this year, now that he's 5!

Anyway...I think that's about it for now!! Thanks for listening to me ramble!