Monday, January 27, 2014

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. :)


4 comments:

Carlie said...

Love your embellishment tray. I know it is simple, but I can be interior decorator - challenged. So I always admire when other can make things look good while still being functional.

Fawn said...

Wonderful projects and great idea for making the cake plate. I'm so impressed with your creativity.

Hope you are feeling better!

LisaDV said...

So love the hoops craft. I'm going to have my kids do this. Love your crafting!!

Keri Lee Sereika said...

Wow you have been SOOO BUSY!!! I love it all! Especially the sweet felt heart projects!

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