January Crafting Snowstorm and Chat

January has been such crazy month in terms of weather, health, and...apparently crafting! Due to snow and polar vortex temperatures, I have been at work (and my son at school) for probably 8 days this entire month. We have rarely had a day without a 2 hour delay. In a way, it drives me absolutely crazy. My lesson plans are a wreck and I know I have tons that I need to cover and am unable to do it.

On the other hand, I have had a mystery illness (fatigue, coughing, tightness in my chest and rounded out with a sinus mess) since right after Christmas. After three rounds of antibiotics, steroids and lots of time off due to the weather, I am beginning to recover. So for that, I am thankful and that I have had a chance to craft and spend extra time with my children. 

Additionally, we recently lost a beloved teacher on our staff to cancer. She was a mentor, colleague, friend and fellow crafter. It seemed that we were all walking around in a fog this past week. I made a commitment to myself, in her memory, to not avoid what makes me happy in lieu of what I have to do, thus I have had a crafting storm of creations. All random and all very different. Sometimes I think we forget to thank God for what we have and appreciate the time that we can make to enjoy what we love. I was recently ready to give it all up because I "didn't have time" for it. How many times have you heard that from people who are non-crafters and think you have more hours in the day than they do or that you are absent in other areas of your life? 

I choose SIMPLICITY as a word to work towards this year, thus my  "shopping my stash" and "budget haul". (See the links to videos on the sidebar on my blog.) 

I have captioned each of the photos with a short description and supplies that I used. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and I will get back with you! :) Thanks for making it to the end. (If you haven't noticed my posts are usually fairly short. I promise to keep them that way in the future!)

Blessings!

A tray for my completed and "in-process" layouts. Made using a Studio Calico box, acrylic paint and extra wide washi from a Studio Calico kit.

Tray in action!

An inexpensive plate and candle stick holder that I put together to use as an embellishment tray.

A card that I put in my son's lunchbox. He was a little cheesed that he had to go to school. (We are in the midst of snow days galore and he was not pleased to be going back.) Stamps: Lawn Fawn - Making Frosty Friends, Bazzill kraft cardstock, all patterned paper is from Basic Grey Aspen Frost and Wink of Stella pens in clear, silver and gold on the snowflakes.

A day at the Glenbrook Mall in Ft Wayne, IN on the carousel. Collections used in this project: Pink Paislee - Color Wash, WRMK - Chalkboard, Heidi Swapp - Mint Alpha, Maggie Holmes - Frame, MME - Sequins

Large roughly 24" chalkboard tic tac toe board with bean bags. Supplies - Upcycled foam core board, chalkboard paint, felt, rice, tiny attacher, chalk and twine.

Almond sugar scrub - Supplies: Sugar, baby oil, coconut oil and almond extract (out of essential oil!).

Embroidery Hoop Art - Supplies: Spellbinders - Heart dies, Papertrey Ink - Peace, Love, Joy dies, various bamboo felt colors, various buttons, Studio Calico - wood veneer letters. (The ones with the names were decorated by my children. I stretched the felt onto the hoop for them, die cut the heart and added their names. They did all of the button work. :)