I have some interest

in Pinterest.

So the craft world has a new place to play. And I'm thinking that I would enjoy sitting in this sandbox a while.

I'm in love with a good tutorial. I enjoy the fact there are people out there who are willing to put their intellectual property out there for others to enjoy. I think part of it is because I'm a teacher and so I believe in sharing knowledge.

I'm not sure how it works, and I'm worried that it will cause me to spend more hours on the computer and less time grading papers... but the crafts... THE CRAFTS!!

blurg.

We shall see my friends.. we shall see...

So much going on

So my Brother-in-Law Liam arrived this week from the land down under. My Husband is thrilled to have his brother here and the two of them are staying up late playing video games and enjoying this visit together. I am very lucky that I love my in-laws. They are awesome, very funny people. And the fact that we have been able to see them frequently (at least once a year) makes it a lot easier for Bren to be away from them.

I've also been quiet the crafty little bee around here. My dear friend Nicole (who's having a baby boy) came over last weekend and we decided to get our craft on. We make something for her and something for our other dear friend Sunny who is having a baby girl. I wish I could show you the tutorial we made. BUT I can't. Our friend Sunny will be having her baby shower in a week and she knows about my blog and I don't want to ruin the surprise.

And for those who don't know. I'm bad with a secret. When I get excited about something I want to share it with people. Especially with the people I love the most. But sadly the tutorial will have to wait a little while to ensure that we don't let the cat out of the bag.

But as soon as Sunny gets her present I'll show you what we made.

The Pumpkins are coming!

Fall is here.

Or at least September is here. After all it was a very cool 98 degrees out today. And MUGGY as all get out.

Two of my VERY dear friends are having babies. Three weeks apart. So I am going to throw them a joint shower.

One is having a Boy and one is having a Girl. So I can’t go mental with one particular color. So I was googleing baby shower ideas and one of the ideas for a fall shower is to talk about the mommy’s lil’ pumpkin.

So Cute! And this Blog has amazing ideas. I stumbled upon it when I put Pumpkin Baby showers into the search engine.

It looks like we are going to have it on a Friday night. I’m going to think about some ‘non game’ games to play. As there are a lot of people who don’t like baby shower games. I love a game, but I want to make sure everyone has fun.

I cant wait to celebrate these two awesome mommas!

You can be sure there will be pictures of all the crafts I get up to!

Friday, I’m in love!

Why is it that Friday can always make everything better?

Friday and a Sonic Cranberry-Limeade - That makes it ten times better. Especially when I'm sitting in the 100+ heat with one of my best girl friends talking about her upcoming baby shower.

Now I won't talk too much about the MILLIONS of craft ideas that I have floating around in my head. I know that she sometimes stumbles onto my blog and I don't want to ruin any surprises. But I can tell you that I want to make almost everything that comes from Creation Corner.

There is nothing like a good craft that can't lift my spirits. I am going to attempt to arrange my craft room a little better because right now it's a pig sty  a little unorganized. I am very lucky that my mom is letting me borrow her sewing machine.

A couple of weekends ago Joann’s had a major sale and I got some items that will help me create wonderful little treats for Nicole’s little boy. They also had patterns on sale. I had no idea how much patterns cost. Holy Cow! I am so glad that I live in the time of the internet tutorial. But thinking about it for a moment, I think 50 years ago I would have taken a home ec. class and learned how to make my own patterns.

I also have some very clever friends who make their own patterns. I’m telling you – AMAZING stuff is just within my reach.

Nicole is going to be a wonderful mother. She has been a fantastic friend to me over the last 7 years and I feel so blessed to have such a friend in my life. I can’t wait to meet her little man. I know that the fun we have had over the years will only continue – we’ll just have her baby in tow.

Time management

As I sit here avoiding those papers sitting on my kitchen table, I am thinking about time management. How do I use my time? Am I happy with all of the things I can get done in a day?

The answer is most often - I haven't done enough. There is not enough time to do everything I want. I want to be able to spend time on my lesson plans. Spend time grading papers and getting assignments into the gradebook. Clean the kitchen, take the dog for a walk, write in my blog, do some laundry. All of the things I would like to be great at.

But how do you find the time to be perfect? I always feel the need to be the best wife, friend, teacher, daughter, granddaughter, all around great gal.

But alas it's not to be.

Recently I have felt overwhelmed with all of the little things I need to do during the day. Verses the things I would like to be able to get done. I would like to be able to go and visit with my gramma. I would like to sit with her and take care of her so my mom can have a break.

But there are papers to grade. lessons to write and so many other 'things' that need to be done.

The school year has started out well. I like all of my classes so far. I have a lot of students that I had last year. So that makes it a little easier to remember names. I have almost everyone down, except a few girls that always seem to look a like.

We will be gearing up soon for homecoming and various other events during the school year. So the train of work will keep on chugging along.

I'm lucky that I have a wonderful husband and good friends to keep me afloat.

Baby Shower Mobile

My dear friend Nicole has a sister who is having a little girl this fall. For her upcoming shower Nicole and I did a craft that will double as a decoration and then as a hanging mobile in the baby’s room. Here is a simple idea anyone can recreate. AND the great thing is that it’s budget minded. The whole thing was around 10$. But I bet you could do it cheaper if you had a curly-willow (or equally cool tree) in your yard.

As all good crafters do – we looked to the wonderful Martha Stewart for inspiration. Her Bird Mobile was so cute – and we wanted something similar.

Here is what we ended up doing. At Joann's they have these large bunches of twigs. We bought one bunch and some fake flowers – manned ourselves with glue guns and hit the ground running.

I was able to undo the wire that held the large bunch together and divided them into two bunches. Used the wire to regroup the twigs and began to glue on our flowers.

Nicole’s sister’s shower is pink, yellow, and peachy orange – so we bought a sprig of yellow hydrangea and a sprig of cherry blossom. We also got a branch of green leaves as the flowers didn’t have much greenery to them.  After taking them off of the plastic branches we began to glue them down.

We tried not to over do it because we liked the simplicity of the branch Martha had created. We also tried to glue the flowers at every angle that way if Nicole’s Sister decides that she wants to hang it above the crib the baby won’t be looking at the boring side of the branches.

Here is the finished branch before we put the birds on them. We got fishing line at Walmart to use in order to hang the birds. Because the shower was still a few weeks away we didn’t put the birdies on. Last year when we had a polka-dot themed shower for our friend Kristine we made polka-dot garland. Well – if you aren’t super careful it will get all tangled – so we decided to error on the side of caution so the birdies won’t be flying until the day before.

We printed the birds from Martha’s website on purple and pink card stock. I’m sure if you are crafty enough you could cut them out by hand but who doesn’t love an easy cut out! I know I do.

Happy Crafting!

School Dreams.

So yesterday two of my good friends and I went down to Ikea to enjoy some Swedish goodness.

We didn't have any meatballs. But we did act like goofballs.

Last weekend I went with Nicole to the salvation army store in town. I got a lamp for 5 dollars. Because it was half off!!! AMAZING! But it didn't have a lamp shade. So when we were in the lighting section Nicole pointed out a very cool lamp shade.



I got this lovely shade and it's very happy sitting on my bedside table.

While we were enjoying a wonderful Mediterranean meal we were talking about school. My friend Jess mentioned that she had a school dream and then I said "watch - now we're all going to have school dreams."

- Sure enough last night I had a dream about school. It was the first day of school but I didn't know what classes I was teaching and was also late getting to work so when I walked in my classroom they kids were already there. It was awful.

I don't have to go back to work until August 9th but I'm already having dreams. This isn't a good sign for my sleep habits.