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We watched “The Eye” last night and I kept myself busy by ripping and knotting another garland. I made this one for my bedroom.

I have this Waverly Vintage Rose print on my bed

and I had some scraps of that from making matching shams and added my favorite toile and crisp green color.

It was a good distraction from the bad movie.

~Em

I made this swag to go over Tate’s bed using fabric scraps I had, old faded swim trunks and ribbon.

My daughter would kill me if she saw that I put a photo of her picking sand out of her butt online for the world to see… BUT (ha ha) she won’t have internet access until she is at least 33 so I got some time, and she doesn’t mind the photo in her room …yet

Here is a close up, the only purchased items were the pink polkadot ribbon in the swag and the ribbon it’s all tied onto (less than $3.00 for both spools)

The scraps of fabric all came from the leftovers of this bedspread… Jenny and I made it a few years ago (yes, I actually SEWED!)

Now, if you want to make yourself a rag swag garland… go over to Jen’s blog cause I was lazy and didn’t take step by step pictures and she did… Oh, and guess what… my lovely friend is even doing a giveaway for one of these garlands… that post is here – you have until tomorrow to leave her a comment… And one more thing… Jen and I got the original idea from the Nester.

~Em

I took a little va-cay… sorry for the lack of posts, you probably think I am just milking my time to that 100th post… I’m not, I just went to Tahoe.

Aaron is in Alaska and I am again without a camera but I did take a picture of this mistreatment in my kitchen.

It’s not the greatest or most lovely thing in the world but I love the fact that I didn’t sew anything and hung it all up there with tacks. It looks way better in person too (doesn’t everything?)

I got the ideas from the Nester’s “Mistreatment 101“.

~Em

I made a bunch of pots the other day, they will all be for sale in the shop.

These two were inspired by the color of orange/peach I created while making Rhonda’s giveaway prize. She said her bathroom had green and orange in it and a really funny thing is that just a few days before my giveaway, Jen told me about this really cute bathroom rug a fellow “blogger” made. She gave me this link  and you know what… it turned out to be Rhonda! So having seen that rug I knew just what colors to do for her pot.

I am not posting pictures of her prize yet, I don’t want to ruin the surprise for her! BUT… Look at these photos… I discovered the macro lense on my camera (amongst a million other features I had been too lazy to play with) I seriously wanted to make out with my camera after discovering this:

Look at the glitter! The texture of the ribbons…ahhhh I am in LOVE with my camera and it’s not even a fancy Nikon! Oh, and I am going to do another post on the features of my camera, but here is one really cool macro photo until then…

Never did one know the beauty of a fly. I was literally shaking with delight as this guy posed for my photo… so much shaking in fact that the picture turned out a little blurry… but WOW what a magnificent green he is! Maybe I need a tripod now…. hmmmm

Remember to check out the shop for ALL of the pots I made, until next time…

~Em

In addition to tending to my dog and reading a novel for my Eng. class, I started some new projects! Here are my new pots waiting for handles and ribbon. When they are done, they will be for sale in the shop.

and some file folders to foo foo up so I actually WANT to file my papers.

I spent hours looking for the pink slip to my car the other day and had to come up with a file system that worked. I saw this post on Lost Button Studio and decided to make my own variation. She used darling punches to shape her paper but punches aren’t in my budget right now. I got a Dymo “Label Buddy” from Wal-Mart ($5.00) and I am going to put the names on the file like that.

It’s not that I don’t have a filing system now – I have a very organized file cabinet – but, I had taken my birth certificate and pink slip out to do some paperwork and stashed them together in a drawer when I got back from my appointment. I am creating this new filing system to have a place to put things I am currently working on and other items that need to be attended to right away. If I had this file box earlier, my pink slip and birth certificate would have been in the cute little file labeled “put away”. We also got a fire safe box and now are keeping all the important stuff in there. It’s nice to get organized!

~Em

As if I didn’t have enough to do this weekend, Aaron and I decided to do some crafts. Actually, I have to give Aaron all the credit here, it was his idea to finally get these signs made. One for MOMents and one for my laundry room. Here’s what we did:

Step 1. Measure the lettering and cut the board (precut at Lowes) to make two signs.

Step 2. Paint the wood.

For the small plaque, I used Folk Art by Plaid “#954 Fresh Foliage” as a base coat. I then spray painted a top coat of Krylon “Ivy Leaf” on top. and sanded the board to look “weathered”.

On the large board, Aaron used Kilz “Bright White”. All paints were from Wal-Mart.

Step 3. Apply vinyl lettering

Step 4. I tea stained the large Moments plaque with Valspar Translucent Glaze in “Raw Umber” (Lowes)

Here is my plaque in my laundry room…

Or better yet…

And here is the “Sneak Peek” of my backyard for those of you in MOMents who will see it Monday night.

and at night with the lights…

~Em

Yes… already! I couldn’t wait to get started on these as I have been dreaming about them for weeks.

And here is the first finished pot.

For lack of an official name, I am calling them “Embellished Peat Pots”. I envision them as a new way to give a gift so I am including a tulle circle that you can wrap a little gifty in and put it in the pot! Think baby shower, weddings, birthdays… a great gift card holder! I am going to make some for my mom(s) this Mother’s Day. This item is available for purchase in the shop for $8 + free shipping.

~Em

I am in the process of making some “thingies” for the shop. After I am done I will have to have you all help me come up with a name for them… here is the main component ~

~Em

I was so excited to get my “Make it Special” gift wrap DVD last week. Thank you Tracey for a WONDERFUL video on how to make my gift wrapping more unique and special. You all need to email Tracey and order this DVD now!

You see, I used to work at a interior design/gift shop for over five years. I learned a LOT of fab-u gift wrapping techniques (and a new language, thanks to my FFT girls!) I don’t know how but over the years (I am unnecessarily dating myself – I am only 29) I lost my knack at wrapping gifts. I saw this blog post over at A Cottage Industry and bought the DVD. My first event was my brother’s 14th birthday. Great… a teen boy does not need a foo foo gift wrapping job. Well, I had to put my new skills to the test. So an hour before the party I started printing and cutting and then the phone rings… it’s my other brother… “hey can you come at 5:00 instead of 5:30?” … yeah sure since it is 4:49 and you live 10 miles away! So in about 5 seconds I whipped this out. Not a true test of my new-found ideas but it was the BEST dressed gift at the party 😉

Oh yeah, my brother’s name is Nathan Hyske – hence the N H on the bag. In the video, Tracey did a bag like this for a couple and used their initials like a monogram… so cute! I encourage all of you to make the best out of your gift by making the wrapping just as great!

~Em

If you didn’t know, Jen and I are the co/creators-owners-moderators extraordinaire of a group for moms called MOMents Off the Clock. We currently meet at my house on the first Monday of the month. Our “event” themes are kept secret to our members but hints are given the previous month in the form of “entry requirements”. We currently are a local group but we are toying with the idea of expanding with some online features such as “podcasts” and video feeds of our meetings. What do ya think?

To see what MOMents OTC is all about, check out our website. I’ll keep you updated on the next Monday MOMents post.

If you are one of our local members – you DON’T want to miss February’s event! Oh my, oh my it’s going to be GOOD!

~Em

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