Vote for Me!

So, I’m a huge scrapping nerd. I know it. But I got all excited when I saw that Pen Scrappers is giving away a Bamboo Craft Tablet. They are amazing tools, and I would LOVE to win one. I would be super honored if you would pop on over and vote on my layout:

The journaling reads: “These two amazing women represent the greatest goal that I have in my life: to share the love and light of Jesus Christ with youth and among families. It seems like Julie and Ashtyn aren’t exactly a huge step in that direction, but honestly these girls are some of the most amazing and fantastic people in my life. Both of them have inspired me in ways that I didn’t think possible, and they have pushed me to better myself, and help those around me I wasn’t sure I could. Ultimately, both Julie and Ashtyn inspired me to apply to seminary, and right now, while I wait for a response from admissions, they are a source of light in my life. I am so thankful to them, and all the great people that I work with and lead in ministry for creating a support system for me in a place that I call home where I don’t need to worry about asking for prayer or needing someone to talk to. Everyone here has helped me to better understand my calling in life, and the desire of my heart that is to follow wherever the Spirit calls me. Thank You!”

I guess I was feeling super sentimental when I was scrapping. Anyways, click the link below and take a quick moment to click off on the right to “Vote for This Layout”

Time is of the Essence!

So I have a super retro oven. It’s actually a pretty cool… but, I have no timer. I don’t mind using my cell phone, although often enough it seems I can’t find it when it’s going off, so that is a major distraction when you have something cooking away in the oven. As such, I am in the market for a kitchen timer. I know, I could go to Wal-mart, buy whatever they have available, and just live with it. But you all should know by now that I’m not that kind of girl…

So, off to the world wide interwebs I went in search of an awesome timer, and here is what I’ve found!

Kikkerland Tape Timer Egg Timer “Timey”

Magnetic Timer Dual Timer

Hourglass Digital Timer Wine Barrel Timer

Terraillon Mini-Timer Dual Timer

Apple Timer Magnetic Retro Timer

Bobblehead Timer Four Station Timer

Starbucks Timer Telephone Timer

Retro Wall Clock & Timer Mr. Long Leg Fruit Clock

They cost anywhere from $7 to $35 and each has their own personal flair. I’m so torn about what it is that I want, I’d love some suggestions! I really love the Magnetic Retro Timer (yellow, of course!), Hourglass Digital Timer, Red Stand-Up Dual Timer, Kikkerland Tape Timer, and the Retro Wall Clock & Timer, but they’re all great. Let me know what you’d pick!

Dum Dum Du-Dum! Here Comes Project #10

How’s that for a teaser?? I love the way this project turned out, even amidst all the other stresses of life. I was asked to help a friend with her wedding shower this may, and I knew I wanted to do something awesome for the invitations. Why? Well, I’m a firm believer that first impressions are incredibly important, and I wanted the shower to make a good first impression. Okay, I’ll admit it, I’m a HUGE nerd. But a crafty one.

So I went scouring the interwebs for someone else’s fabulous idea and came across this one over at WeddingBee. Well, I fussed and fidgeted with the template for what seemed like YEARS (okay, so it was only a week), only to no avail. I got very frustrated and gave up for a few days. Then I started to get psyched about the big day coming, and got on board with finishing these things and got them sent out. We had decided on a “pots, pans, and pinups” theme for the shower and I went right ahead and made these bad boys to fit. Take a look…

The “Pinups” card had a recipe card that I asked guests to fill out and bring back with their gifts for Takara. I apparently struggle to take photos of the third page with no hands :)

John (her fiancé) was coming into town with her, as usual, and wanted to be a part of the shower without having to play shower games, for any reason. So we decided to put on a BYOM barbecue for the guys to come and join all of us over at a nearby friend’s home. I whipped up some postcard size invites lickety-split and dropped one in with all the invitations, then sent them on their merry way!

 

Finding paper was the part that took the absolute longest, aside from making my printer work with such heavy weight paper. I ended up using a cardstock that I bought from a local scrapbook store. I loved the extra little bit that the texture added to the invitations so much, I used the scraps from cutting down the 12x12’s to print off the bbq invites. Stitching the edges of the invites was the easiest part of the project, and something I think I’m definitely going to incorporate into future paper projects, because I loved the results.

Thanks for looking!

Dozens and Dozens and Dozens – Project #13

Ignore my out of order posting, I just can’t put this off any more!

The power that God has to move is amazing! On Saturday, May 1, while I should have been study, study, studying, I was sewing my fingers off! Julie had mentioned that she was going to participate in the Dozens of Dresses in a Day event at First Lutheran, and I said I would come and help her out with the sewing. Well, take a look at what was accomplished….

And that is just a VERY small portion of what was finished! Overall, over 120 dresses were made for Real Hope for Haiti Rescue Center. When Carol said we might have made too many, she was assured that extras would be going to other places that needed them as well! The turn out for the day was amazing, and it was great to see a community come together, regardless of religion, age, or gender, to do something for someone who needs it!

Julie is the ironing queen, by the way!  And don’t you come near that board if you aren’t going to do something helpful, she is not afraid to use that iron!

  Altogether, Julie and I made seven dresses in just a few hours by keeping me in front of the machine, and sending her to iron, get trims, etc.  It was an amazing experience and if you want to read more about the event, the organization, or you want to make a donation, feel free to check out the Worldwide Villages site for more photos and the opportunity to give!

Project #7 – Skirting the Edges

So this project came sort of out of left field for me… A good friend of mine came to me a few weeks before Easter desperate for something to wear on the holiday that would match the rest of her family. We went to good ‘ole Wally world in search of a pattern and fabrics that would look good on her. And so we found her favorite color, of course! PURPLE! Then we paired it with a dark navy blue so she wouldn’t look like a plum, or a lilac, and got to sewing!

Unfortunately, I don’t have more photos, but I do have this charming photo of her fantastic fam-alam-ily!

 

Aren’t they precious!? Okay, no more embarrassing them. Julie made the decision to go for navy and purple all around, but they look so good! AND… El is wearing a dress! Holy cow. That’s all that I have to say about that, especially when she normally looks like this…

Note the sport shirt, sport pants, and if you could see them tennis shoes….

I digress! The skirt was quite the process, but in the end I think it turned out okay. The zipper took forever and a day to get it right, but I was very happy with it once it was finished! We followed the pattern to almost a T, with some minor shortcuts that seemed unnecessary or irrelevant because of the fabric. We used patter 6899 from New Look by Simplicity for the skirt, and I was honestly surprised how straight forward the instructions were.

There were a few ambiguous parts (welcome to using a pattern) but all in all, it was general skirt construction. We really liked all the different varieties of skirts, as well as lengths, so we kind of played, and played some more, and fitted, and refitted both the skirt and the pattern to the lovely Julie, and we came up with amazing awesomeness. I wish I had more photos, but I guess this just means that I will need to sucker Jules into putting the skirt on again someday for photo lovelies. Until later….