Life is a Precious Gift

I haven't blogged in a week because my husband's youngest sister passed away and our family has been in a limbotic chaos. I went into my studio today hoping to craft and that too was a bust. My mind was just too unorganized. The worry overpowers any creative thoughts in my head. I worry so about my darling husband Howard, I worry about my beautiful mother-in-law and also my husband's surviving siblings.

Although in the past week I have witnessed Howard's family pull their love and strength together, I have witnessed hearts being broken in a way that hurts to the core of my being. I am exhausted physically from the lack of sleep and mentally for what should be obvious, and for every bit of my exhaustion, I know that my husband, his mother and his siblings must have exhausted hearts and bodies so much more so than mine.

At times like this we tend to focus more intently on how precious the gift of life is. I have always let it be known that, under God, my family is what I live for; But I just can't seem to think of any thing else right now. How fortunate am I to have been blessed with such a wonderful man to share this journey of life with me, and to have been blessed with children and grandchildren that bring us joy to no end.

Thank you dear Heavenly Father for all the blessings you have bestowed upon me and thank you to my dear family who stands at my side and share this journey of precious life! And thank you also to my friends who have been here for us in each their own beautiful way! Until tomorrow.

Rainy Day Craft

Today is one of those days when I just want to curl up with a good book and get lost in someone elses drama. It is raining and thundering, Jake and Ashley have taken Jayden to a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese and Howard is watching movies. I don't have a good book on hand so I whipped up a little mail center for my outgoing/incoming mail. It coordinates with the ribbon board and other items I've recently created.

 The above photo is the frame as I found it at a yard sale: fifty cents!

The picture above is the finished product: I cut a piece of heavy cardboard to fit the back, covered it with coordinating fabrics. The top two layers form pockets for my mail.

Finishing what I started.

About 9 months to a year ago, my bff Lisa and I started several different crafts with the idea that we were going to make tons of money recycling or upcycling a bunch of junk. We really did do great work but we didn't make a bunch of money. One of the things we made were bird feeders and bird baths from all kinds of vintage and assorted glass. They turned out absolutely gorgeous (I'll post pics when I find the right camera chip) Another item we thought was just so cool was the chairs made from tin cans. We thought we'd make pin cushions from these. Well, Lisa formed a few of these chairs and she even got them spray painted but they've since been sitting on a shelf in my craft room waiting for the pin cushion part to be added. Guess what? I finally added the cushions! They turned out as cute a we thought they would.

Aren't these just the cutest little pin cushions?

Shoebox Craft

At the same time I started my ribbon board, I started covering a shoebox to match. Actually it is a boot box and it turned out really nice.

One boot box.

I opened the box and turned it inside out which I've since learned was unnecessary since I covered the inside as well. Lesson learned!

 I think my box looks pretty good the way it is, but I have a feeling I'll be embellishing it soon. I'll post pictures if I do.

I've become a huge pinner on Pinterest and I'm finding all kinds of wonderful ideas for upcoming projects. My main objective though is to create and upcycle using only what I have on hand. I've been collecting and saving everything under the sun: boxes, plastic bottles, fabric, buttons, lace, ribbon, etc... The list goes on and on. I have plastic tubs full of craft items and things "I'll get to." I'm excited to see what I come up with! I'll share as I go.

While I'm going through all these tubs of things I've been collecting, I'm sorting for a yard-sale. If there's something I love as much as finding a good yard-sale, it's having one!! Until next time!

Project "Ribbon Board."

So it is 4:00 in the morning and I can't sleep so I decided to work on this blog page of mine. I would go in and craft but some people in the house are sleeping so I'll quietly sit here and blog. I'm still trying to figure out the kinks in this 'blogging' system but I'm sure I will figure it out eventually.

So, Ididn't finish my projects from my first blog but I did finish a ribbon board that I started last week.

This is the frame as I found it at a yard sale.

This is my finished product.

$1.00 for the frame, 47 cents for the ribbon at Wal-Mart, and scrap fabric & buttons from my collection. Total cost of this project was under $2.00

*****
Until Next time!
May your blessings be many and your troubles be few!

                                                   

A project a day, or maybe two

I've really never been a blogger. I've journaled for years, but that was always so private. But I've decided that I have so much to share. I have decided to put my recycle projects and ideas out here for all to see. I thought that maybe if I share with the world, then maybe-just maybe, I might stay focused and accountable. So here goes...

Project #1 ~ Back to school book bag for Jayden (Jayden is my 4 year old grandson who currently lives with us.) I got this idea from http://www.familyfun.com/ This site is full of great ideas and I'm sure I will be referring to them often.

Project #2 ~ Yarn balls for my nephew and his fiance's wedding. I have made the first one just to test the glue recipe and it turned out beautifully, now I only have 99 more to go.

Project #3 ~ Plastic bottle outdoor chandelier. My husband has recently built himself an outdoor kitchen and I think it needs a little "feminine" touch. I have been saving Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Diet Mountain Dew, A&W Root Beer, and Diet AW Root Beer 16 oz. plastic bottles for about a year, so I will be starting this project tomorrow. (Actually, I started cutting the bottoms off these bottles a year ago and now I have enough for one chandelier.)

Project #4 ~ Scrapbook at least a page a day!

Project #5 ~ Sew at least one small item a day and work on one large item each day until it is finished.

Ok, I will curb my list to these 5 projects until I have a grip on my accountability and lose the attention defecit tendencies.