The Big Three (and a cake)

And Logan turned the big THREE.
Here's a little early birthday present for Logan and Nola...



THANKS Evi!

And thank you Dollar Store for all the birthday supplies I needed!


A few yellow gift bags and a Sharpie and voila! Goodie bags for a construction themed party (and with only four kids to cater to this only took about 30 min)





And onto the cake... Construction is the theme... I bought tractors and chocolate cake mix, brownie mix and a few other candies to make a construction scene on a cake...

First there was the Circus Peanuts.. the most disgusting candy ever but as orange as a construction cone! I cut and molded them into cones... sticky, sticky, sticky!


And a pan of brownies to make into boulders... first I scooped out spoon fulls of baked brownie:


Rolled them into balls and dusted them in powdered sugar...


And we have brownie rocks! so so so so so yummmm! (in my opinion, the best part of the cake)


I baked a chocolate cake, iced it with green icing and made a road from black licorice. I put it on the bottom side of a sheet pan (cookie sheet) and iced that too.


Then I dug out a hole or two from the cake and let the chocolate cake pile up like dirt, surrounded then with hazard cones, stuck the construction vehicles on with icing and added boulders and additional cones.... TaDa! A construction cake!







Logan loved it!

Happy Birthday Little Baby Boo.

And then he opened his present from his sister, a Thor helmet and hammer...

Happy Birthday Thor! He is kinda big and blond like an Azgardian.

Flip-in Out!

Three things to report...

One, I got a Flip. I love it. It's fun and easy and even the kids can record videos. We've spent too much time NOT recording the goofy/cute/silly/brilliant things our kids are doing. So let the Flip-ing begin! I'm sure videos will be coming soon. No idea what I'm talking about? Go Here.

Two, Another Craft Fair. Here's the information if you are so inclined to join:
Saturday, December 11, 2010
St. Charles West High School
3601 Droste
St. Charles, MO 63301
North on Zumbehl off Hwy 70
9am to 4pm

Three, stomach bug. Yuk Yuk Double Yuk. First me, Monday night. Then Tuesday morning Logan threw up but didn't seem to care or be phased by it. Then overnight last night Nola threw up in her bed. There's the Double Yuk. But she seemed perfectly fine afterwords. Now this morning she's slumped on the couch with a just-in-case bowl and saying her tummy hurts. Not sure if she's still 'got it' or just hungry from no nutrients. Either way... this may ruin my chances of actually being at the craft fair. I can't send contaminated kids to a babysitter. But my mom will be there, even if I'm not. Even more reason for you all to go and visit her if I can't...

So there's my story.

Craft Fair Blues

So I did it. My very first face to face attempt at selling my photography. Edward Jones Holiday Mart. It was Saturday.

There was so much planning that went into it. Photos printed up to sell, packaging to buy and then all the prints to package up. Business cards to make, order, and put in all the packages. Frames to buy and fix up and large prints to order and frame. A display to make for the frames to hang on. The bins to look for and buy for all the product to go in on the table... Sheesh, not to mention all the thought put in about pricing on all sizes, all sets, all possible and/or potential combos people might want to purchase. What if they want this? What if they want that? I'm not the kind of person to just wing it on the fly... it had to be all thought out ahead of time. And charted, and printed out and put into a binder. And babysitters, waking up early to get ready to leave and set up early for it to start... it was a lot of work.

And on top of all that, this wasn't even my idea. It was my mom's. She wanted to do this with me and I agreed. I don't regret doing it. It was an experience. It was practice. It was something. It was.... a craft fair.

And now for the big question.... How did it go? How much did I sell?
It was a flop. A bust. A bummer.

Okay, that's not entirely true. I did whip up some greeting cards at the last minute (just because I wanted something Holiday-ish at the booth). And I sold one pack of cards. Yep, one pack. All day. One pack. But at least... and thank goodness... I didn't sell NOTHING.

And onto the bright side.... all the work I put into it was not entirely in vein. The prints are still sell-able. The organization is always worth it. And I have a craft fair under my belt... one notch in the experience department. I saw what people liked and what was ignored. I heard lots of comments about how nice it all was, good for the ego. Several people told us we looked very professional, the most professional booth at the fair was said more than once. I was even asked what Gallery my stuff was shown in. (I said, 'You're looking at it!") And I got questions/requests for things that people wanted to see. From one of those inquiries sprang a great idea for a future series I plan to start working on soon.

Now for some quotes and thoughts from the Holiday Mart:

Just because you bought the over sized chef hat in Christmas print at the craft fair does not mean you are obligated to wear it all day AT the craft fair! (with your gray sweat pants and blue sweatshirt with a teddy bear on it)
They aren't selling blinking light-up Santa hats here, so that means you wore that out in public on purpose... interesting....
"Oh! Do you have a picture of the steel mill in Granite city?!" Oh sure, let me just find that one for you real quick... I knew you'd be here looking for it.... Seriously?
"So... uuhh... you just take pictures of different stuff and then frame them?" Umm, yes, it's call photography... Ever heard of it?
Apparently the ladies over sixty are really serious about their black fingernail polish... I saw about 10-15 older women rockin the goth nails.
Children do not like booths with photography. They really, really don't. Especially when there is a tutu/hair bow booth right next door!
And the most frequently asked question of the day: "Did you actually take all these pictures?" Oh, no sir (or ma'am), I stole them all off the internet and hoped that no one would ask. Again, seriously?

So that was my Craft Fair experience in a nut shell. And low and behold... my mom asked me today if I wanted to do it all over again next weekend. Shit... I guess so.

My New Apron

A while ago I asked Cayce (on Facebook) to make me an apron I saw on one of my favorite blogs: Black&White Delight. I love black and white things... and I love toile... and this apron was both!

Here is the original picture of the apron that I thought was so super cute I couldn't stand it:




And much to my surprise, because I was kindof joking, she started making me an apron. And not only did she make me one, but she made a matching one for Nola too!

Here is her blog post of the aprons:
Black & White & Cute All Over

If I get around to it I may put up a picture of me in the apron... I just don't have one right now.

But a Woo Hoo and a Thank You to Cayce - my very own personal seamstress!

Color Me Bad

Not the awesomely bad 90's group - Color Me Bad the Art Project

My mom got married ... well... I don't remember when it was, a few months ago? maybe? Either way, she went away to Nebraska and invited no one. Do I sound bitter? I am a little, but I'm mostly over it. Back to my point here... they decided to have a reception type thing here in the Lou in their back yard for the family. So I decided to help the kids make some cards for them... it's what we do.

So I took some pictures from their wedding (the one I wasn't at) and did a little of this and a little of that in Photoshop and voila - pictures for the kids to color. I printed them out on heavy paper, folded it over and got out the bucket of crayons.


Nola decided Grandma's hair would look good in pink...


Logan chose to go with some yellow for the faces...


They both colored the insides as well...


And the final product - cards for Mr. & Mrs. Grandpa and Grandma:


I think I want to use this technique to make coloring books for them. It was super easy!

Seasonal Projects

I keep adding new projects onto my mental to-do list... I think it's a mile long already! I just spend too much time online looking at what other people are doing (projects, art, sewing, recipes, etc.) and I want to do them all myself!

I tend to spend more time gardening and reading in the the Spring. Planting new seeds, uncovering last years beds, planning new beds and dreaming of vegetables. And this Spring I really started reading again, much to my liking. It had been way too long since I read more than one book in a several month span. And the beginning of this year has seen at least 15 books!

The Summer gets so hot and the kids want to be outside all the time. The plants are all planted and there isn't much to do but wait and harvest... So this year I started painting. I hope to keep it up, even if it becomes a smaller hobby once my current project is finished. But I already have part of my room set up for it, so I might as well keep it that way. And my reading binge has come to a halt. There's something not so appealing about trying to loose yourself in a book while covered in mosquitoes and dripping sweat. But I do have the harvest to look forward to - lots of cooking and freezing for the Winter.

The Fall is when I really start cooking and getting out the yarn. There are so many things to make to stay warm and make the house all good smelling. And candles! Fall is a great time for burning candles all over the house. Maybe this year I will try to maintain my habits of reading and painting into the Fall as well. Fall is also when I start scouting out the locals for a pregnant person to make a baby blanket for.... This year, so far, I don't have a candidate.

And Winter is all about staying inside and crocheting something, blankets, scarves, whatever - I just love to have the warm fuzzy project in my hands. This year I have several ideas piled up. I want to make some dolls for the kids... also possibly for other people's kids if they aren't too hard to make (hello! Christmas presents!).
(side note to all crafty folk out there: I found this awesome blog that stemmed my ideas for the dolls. It's called Dolly Donations. If you have it in you to be crafty and like making things, you should totally check this out! Or just check it out anyway and maybe it will inspire you to be crafty and generous as well.)

And there are the ever-ongoing-never-finished projects. I have photography ideas that could go on forever. Hopefully these will pan out and either turn into some sort of income earning source or if nothing else, more Christmas presents for friends and family.

Right now I have the photo projects I'm working on and the paintings for Cayce's house. I should probably be working on those instead of typing here...

Coloring

We color around here just about every day... which means I pick hundreds of crayons off the floor just about every day... We have moved on from crayons to markers. And then back to crayons after I found Little Man with his arms colored from fingers to elbows in hot pink marker... But how else am I going to teach them to be little artists unless I let them make a giant mess once in a while. And every so often I get a reward.
Here is one of Nola's marker drawings:

Explanation from the artist: This is the sun (in orange) drawn first because it was a sunny day. Then a rain cloud came (gray blob at top) and made it a rainy day. Then the rain droplets (blue circles in front of the sun) came down and it rained ALL OVER the grass (green squiggle at bottom).
I think she's the next Van Gogh!

And here is one she made just for me:

Mama & Nola
I have no idea who is who, but we both look fabulous, don't you think!


And from time to time I have to bust out my skillz and color with the chillins too. What usually happens is that we all sit down to color. I start some drawing or whatnot while they whip out four or five drawings a piece. They're done and take off to do other things and I am left alone at the table coloring with crayons... happy as can be, I might add.

Here is a crayon drawing I did of Nola. She was pouting about something and when else can I get her to sit so still? So I drew her.


I also usually take requests while coloring... This one is a request from Nola for an Apple Tree:


And what else can you do when you're done coloring, have no pants on, have thrown all your crayons and markers around the room?
Table surf. Yep, that's right! Climb up on the table, lay on your belly and ride the wave.


I swear I have a handle on my kids... really I do!

Present Plans (Help!)

So my mother is turning 60 next month. Wow - 60!

She has pretty much everything she needs. She has a great man, a new house, a new ring (she got engaged over the holidays), and an awesome backyard. They have most everything they need as far as gadgets and gizmos, knick knacks and decor. She has tons of clothes, shoes... and no jewelry will compare to her newest acquisition. So what the heck to get her?

I have an idea!

SIXTY presents! Yes, 60 individually wrapped presents!

I've discussed it with Cayce, my sister, and she thinks it's a good idea. Which thrills me because now I'm only responsible for 30 of the gift ideas! And between us we have 4 kids and I'm sure a few hand made items and cards from them will be counted into the mix. Yes, we are going to count EVERYTHING! I think we will go with a basic, solid, monotone wrapping and have big numbered tags on each item to designate it #1, #2, #3.... #60. Even the cards.

So I have started my list. And I would love any suggestions and/or ideas to help me along.

Yet Another Blog! (seriously)

I have another (yes, another) blog! Since I opened my Etsy store I wanted to post info about my cards and designs but there isn't much space on Etsy's website to just blog on about things.... so I started a new one. I didn't want people who were just looking to buy stuff to see all my other boring stuff so that's why I didn't just put it all here....

Yellow-Mug.blogspot.com

Have a looksy if you want. Any suggestions or ideas will be much appreciated. And hey - buy a card too!

I Have an Etsy Shop!

I finally did it! I opened up my etsy shop! It's called The Yellow Mug.

Here is the link:

yellowmug.etsy.com

I plan on adding many more designs soon. And I hope to get a blog up and running as a partner for the Etsy Shop. Once it is up I will link it here and on Etsy.

Check it out!

Crocheted Baby Rattles

Today I made something for the first time in a while... crocheted baby rattles. I got the idea from my sister, Cayce - who got the idea online somewhere....
So here's what I did (with lots of pictures):

I started with this bright colored baby yarn



I crocheted rows across to make a long rectangle:



Here it is folded over, so you can see how long it was:



Then I sewed the long sides together to make a tube:



I just crocheted the two sides together all the way down:



Then I looked for some sacrificial toys (ones the kids no longer play with or ones that are just past their prime). Also, another idea from Cayce, I found ones with the bells, rattles and squeaky things inside to harvest:

The lovely caterpillar above offered up his internal organs for my crafting experimentation. He contained lots of stuffing, a squeaker, the crinkle sound makers AND a bell!


And a mystery was also solved. What do they put into baby toys to make that crinkle sound? Well my friends, it's stuffing wrapped in plastic tape! How simple is that? Here is a crinkle sound maker:



So then I stuffed the tube with the toy guts:



Then I sewed the ends of the tube together to make the ring.
Here is one of the rattles, this one squeaks:



I made two, one that has the rattle bells inside and one that squeaks - they both also have the crinkle noise in them as well:

I included my hand so you could see the size of them, they're rather large. (Ignore my lack of upkeep in the nail polish department.)


So this is what I did today. Tomorrow we will see if the baby actually likes them.

Tell Me...

...what to do with this project!

I got this yarn from my sister in law. I have five skeins of it! It's really colorful and very soft, like baby yarn. I started a square, because I had a hard time crocheting in rows with it because it was so soft. (Maybe I should try again now that I'm used to it) But I stopped my square because I have no plan. I could carry on with the square forever and make a large square blanket... I could make multiple squares and put them together for a variety of things like a blanket, a scarf or two or three, some sort of outfit for the kids... I don't know! Anyone have any ideas?

Here is the square I finished (and one skein of the yarn):


And here is a closer up version:

All Mine!

So I've been messing around with creating my own digital scrapbook stuff... Here are a few of the things I've made (everything but the ric-rac ribbon is all mine! - made from scratch!)
I know the page is quick and boring and the pictures are just all the crap we have piled up for the baby... but I just wanted to show you what I made.... I have about 9 papers, a few little things - mostly the star theme in pinks blues and yellows. Here are all the papers in the star theme:

By the way - still no baby! Dr.'s appointment tomorrow morning - will update with any news.

Cutest Kids Ever!

Just had to add this - I worked on it tonight while watching the Olympics. I think it turned out pretty okay. (Notice my T-shirt from 1979 - if you can't read it, it says GYMNASTICS)

I used three kits from www.shabbyprincess.com :
Vintage Florals
Sun Porch
Harvest Spice
and from http://scrapblog.com.br :
Say It With Flowers

Pretty Picture

I have this on my photo blog as yesterday's picture of the day... but it's just so cute I had to tie it up in a bow and put it here too! Enjoy!

Digital Pages

Here are a few pages I did tonight... I couldn't help myself... I should totally be getting things ready for the hospital and the baby but I was WAY too excited to use my new downloaded scrapbook supplies! These are some quick pages I made just for fun. Hope you like! Enjoy!










And to give credit where credit is due, all the items used in the above three pages are from the following sources:
tempusfug.blogspot.com (BlackWhite)
imaginebyfran.blogspot.com (Fushia)
candystreats.blogspot.com (Kirisue)
pinktoque.blogspot.com (Knit & Stitch)
simplysweetdesigns.blogspot.com (Simply Classic)

Random B.S.

BS can stand for many things... Let's start with the good things first.

Blog Stuff: I used to do digital scrapping all the time (when Nola was younger and didn't require as much attention...). I even made an entire book for her first birthday, and her birthday invitations with digital scrap booking. It's really fun, but you do have to have time, which I don't seem to anymore. BUT - I have run across several blogs that are WONDERFUL for sharing freebies of papers, elements and entire kits. So I have spent the past couple of days downloading several things for when I have time again. Lucy & Cayce (mostly) - check out this blog: GingerScraps. I am linking it on my favs over to the right. It's the best one I've found.... SO MUCH cool stuff to download! I'm getting addicted again. Maybe I will try out some of the things I got and post a scrap page soon.... maybe.

Birth Stuff: Well, I'm feeling pretty achy all over... My muscles are stretched to the limit in the belly area. I went this entire pregnancy without a new stretch mark until about 3 days ago! Now I have a whole crop of them right in front and to the sides of my belly button, like evil {(parentheses)}! I'm having more trouble walking and getting up, which is good if that means he is descending downward... and eventually outward! My hips are killing me, also good if they are getting more flexible. My heartburn (which was beyond bad) is all but gone, so I'm thinking he has definitely moved downward and off my stomach. All good signs pointing to oncoming labor **fingers crossed** (knocking on wood)

Bull Shit: So I called in to my OB's office to ask when they had re-scheduled my c-section in the case of no labor.... They said that everything is booked. Booked? What? Everything? So I guess we will just wait and see what happens. I still have my scheduled one for e 28th... (22days more of being pregnant!) But maybe it's a sign that I should just go into labor on my own. I think I will try and see it that way since that's what I want anyway. In other BS news, my husband's work will not let him have any freedom when it comes to his time off for this baby! He must have a scheduled vacation. How do you schedule for labor you ask? You DON'T! You CAN'T! Morons! I understand that his place run with a One-Man-in-Charge at a time schedule.... but geez people. So since the only concrete date we have (thanks to the hospital being totally booked up) is the 28th, then that's when he has scheduled his vacation to start. So if I go into labor today, I have 3 weeks of not having him home... Fabulous! I think too many people are scheduling their c-sections these days!

I think that's all my BS for today....