Stubborn

stub·born  

/ˈstəbərn/

Adjective

1. Having or showing dogged determination not to change one's attitude or position on something, esp. in spite of good arguments or reasons...
2. Difficult to move, remove, or cure.

That's what I am. I freely admit it. When I get an idea in my mind, it is the best idea and I don't rest until it is done....or something like that.... :D

Well last Wednesday I was madly organizing my room, trying to get it cleaned up before Ty and his fiancee Jessica came up to visit. When I realized that my closet is awful. It's tiny and crammed with junk/clothes/shoes/everythingthatdoesnthaveahome. So I grabbed my handy dandy yellow notepad (love those mini ones!) and started drawing out what my new closet would look like. I measured and re-measured and drew out the plans. It was going to be awesome!
(after this chicken scratch I made it official by typing it all up and even breaking down how much all the wood would cost, I was $4 off!)

I obviously didn't get it done that day, I didn't even buy the materials that day. Ty and Jessica arrived reallllly late Wednesday night/Thursday morning. They just left Sunday afternoon but it was really fun to have them here and we got to meet Jessica which was cool. So we did lots of family stuff those days, no time to work on my new closet. Which is fine.

Saturday I did have a little bit of time so I cut all of my boards to size.

 First I measured and marked each board so I would know the exact pieces that board would make. That was very handy.
Cutting all the boards didn't take a whole lot of time, maybe about two hours (that includes digging for the correct tools-the tool section of the garage is next on my list).

A couple days later (today) I had a few hours between work and going back to work. The above is a ^^photo of my closet BEFORE ^^

Yaaaa....can you see why I need some help? Ridiculous.

There are 35 pack boxes of those thin velvet hangers at costco right now, seriously the best things I have bought in a long time! My mom bought me a box, then I went back and bought 2 more ($10 each!). So what I have a lot of clothes! I do have one whole box leftover for future use though.

These things are awesome clothes don't slip from them and they take up half the size of a regular hangers. Serious space saver.

   I have this $4 ikea clothes rack that I used to house all of my hanging clothes until the closet it finished. My room is literally an obstacle course right now.

Today I managed to get my 'shoe rack' done! Hurray. I cut little dividers for each of those shelves to split them in half, but I actually like it better without them, plus i have more room. Which I obviously need because I still have several pairs of shoes that don't fit.... (donation time!)

everyone scoffed at me and told me to get a pre-packaged closet kit. Glad I saved myself hundreds of dollars and proved them wrong!

 Tomorrow perhaps if I have some time I will finish up. The only parts I have left to do are cut 3 hanger rods and screw in 2-3 more shelves on the sides. To the left of the shoes will be a skinny rod to hang my long dresses. There will be a short shelf below those dresses for additional storage (remember we don't waste space). 

To the right of the shoes at the top will be another hanging rod for all my 'tops', sweaters, shirts, etc....Below that I am going to put another shelf and rod for all my skirts. That way, each type of clothing is sectioned out and much easier to sift through. The side shelves will be gone through and cleaned out, they are a mess right now.

Hopefully it will all be done soon so I can have my room back! 

My fingernail polish organization corner now! :) I obviously love the stuff.

Maybe this should be a 2nd post but I'm including it here....

We also worked hard and fast to get our craft room done. It was a disaster but between the garage, the laundry room, re-doing food storage, organizing closets, painting, etc....it got done finally.

 Walking in to the room this is what you see (Nicole, do you notice no more pink/white wall?:))

 The back 'kitchen' corner

 This is a craft cutting table I made for my mom for her birthday (2 months later....). I bought two of those expedite 4 cube bookcases for the base. Then got REALLLLY lucky at the re-store and found this heavy duty solid table top for $10. It was ugly and brown but I painted it and it works perfectly! There is a rounded spot at one end for all of the cutting supplies and the table fits our huge cutting mat exactly....literally exactly.

 The other side of the room has more of those expedite bookcases and desks for my mom and I to work at. Lots of storage.

 And looking towards the back.
It's nice to have it all organized and put away. Let's hope it lasts longer than a week :)

Being Happy

After yesteday's melodrama I decided that today should be better. That meant I stayed in my sweats until 11am (actually I didn't mean to do this but ALL my clothes were either in the washer or dryer so I had to wait). I did some retail therapy online without actually buying anything, GO ME! 

I studied about GMO's which is surprisingly interesting. While I don't buy in to a lot of the eco-whatever alarmists out there this topic has really struck a nerve. If you have a chance you should go watch Genetic Roulette. It's about 1 hr 20 minutes long but I took a lot of notes for my paper while I watched. It might not be the most riveting 'movie' but it will make you think a lot.

OK long side note about GMO's geesh. sorry.

I also worked on organizing downstairs some more. I'm trying to purge all the junk we don't use and get everything organized and get rid of some of the furniture in that craft room! I've gotten quite a bit done by myself over the last several days. I've always watched 5 dics of Bones in that time, but at least I'm being productive while I work. I don't feel a sense of urgency like I did to get that done so it made it easier to work on.
Happy fabric 'mini bolt' shelves! 

I decided around 2 that I wasn't going to go to class tonight either. It feels very weird to intentionally skip a class because I haven't done that (at least not since middle school ;)). I felt guilty at first but got over it quickly. I thought it was Friday all day today anyways. But skipping my 2 classes did make me happier than it should have.

I started reading an e-book I bought. It's called, Unnaturally Green. It's a look inside the life of an Elphaba standby. It's hilarious and really easy to read which is nice. Oh Wicked I miss you SO. Seriously. They just need to record the play and release it already!

 I made these potted plant treats for YW last night. Two people really believed that it was an actual plant. It's a cupcake at the bottom with ice cream then crushed oreos with a couple worms. If you stick a straw into the cupcake before adding ice cream then your flower stem goes right into the straw. I wanted to get real terracotta pots but didn't find any so I used dumb little plastic ones that I lined with saran wrap.

And I felt better about my haircut today. I went from this:
 

To this. It feels good to have the yucky hair off. Even though I didn't go as extreme as I was thinking she still cut off about 5-6 inches (although it's hard to tell because my hair was going crazy before I got it cut).

I'm DERRRRRRPing it up because I was making a really dumb face in honor of the bathroom mirror pic meant to mock all the FB mirror pics but I look like a fool (mission accomplished then right?)

 

 My mom bought me flowers for Valentine's day too. How cute!

 To end tonight I put my happy pillowcase, that I made last week, onto my pillow. So hooray for happy days. Although there were a couple times I wasn't thrilled it was fine.

Sassyyyyyy

Procrastionation

That's something I'm REALLY good at. Unfortunately.....lately I've been putting things off because I just need to not constantly be doing things that I really don't 'want' to do. So I've been sewing. More than usual. So much so that I'm bidding on sewing machines on ebay. I want to same kind that we already have a Bernina huge metal like 50 pound sewing machine. It's the kind my mom has and I LOVE it. I don't think I could even figure out how to use the newfangled robot digital machines. That's my goal. To win one of these machines without paying $600. Like $200 would be nice ;)
Here are some projects from the last couple days. Keeping it simple and easy.

 For YW 2 weeks ago we made these little scripture tote bags. They are very easy/quick/fun. I made these last week for a lady I work with and her three spunky daughters.

 This is the momma version, she's always carrying so many craft supplies so hopefully it will be helpful.

 This is for a baby shower gift. It will eventually be a car seat cover....we'll see, I might choose other fabric.

 We had a lot of little leftover pieces from the YW making their totes so instead of tossing them I cut a bunch of it to make these-

little matching kleenex holders for them to put in their scripture bags. SUPER easy and they're done in like 4 minutes (after pre-cutting all the fabric). I have another two patterns I want to work on but I'll finish these holders first so I'm not so ADD.


STILL not done with my quilt. I'm stuck at the 'quilting' part. I should have learned how to quilt before jumping headfirst into this project. Yikes. Will it ever get done?!

I go through hobby phases. Knitting, crocheting, sewing, cooking/baking, reading, etc....right now it's obviously sewing.

Sewing Bowl

Sewing bowls are MUCH more fun than super bowls. In my humble opinion that it.... :)
So yesterday while 90% of everyone else in the world was watching the game and simultaneously gorging on chips/salsa and other sorts of food, I was sewing and fasting. Shaaaaweeeet.
While I do love me a nice big bowl of salsa and/or guacamole I didn't partake.

Wanna know the best part about sewing instead of football? There's no football involved! Yeeehaw. I have grown up in a very football/baseball filled house, and while I've been known to accidentally watch football/baseball on occasion, it really doesn't make me a better person or broaden my horizons. I can't tell a difference between any games, they are all the same to me.

So I went downstairs and started a few projects. I might have watched 5ish episodes of Bones while down there too. Why would someone watch the super bowl when they have have a sewing/bones bowl?

I've been wanting to make a laptop sleeve for awhile to prevent scratches in all my 'commuting'. The pattern I found online was bogus and the other one cost money so I looked at the picture and figured it out on my own. My mom and I played sewing machine tag the entire time. She had a project and I had mine, it's never too late to learn to share.

It took a little bit of time, but I finally finished my sleeve at the same time the super bowl got over. Perfect!

 I ordered some fun chevron fabric so I used some of that, along with extra batting from my quilt (that's STILL being quilted because my sewing machine isn't big enough to work), red velcro, and red thread and time, I have myself a fun new/cheap carrying case.

 The inside is lined with that turquoise-y color also, but I didn't make it reversible (mostly due to pure laziness and not wanting to-ness).

Then tonight I got home from work and had some time so I made up these bags for someone I work with:

 They're even upside down! You're welcome! I tried to pick fabrics that would match her girls' personalities. Hopefully they'll like them :) They are reversible just in case they don't.

I also made a large one for their mom. She always has piles of crafting stuff she brings to work so I thought this might help her carry stuff.
These 4 bags took 2 episodes of Bones. Apparently that's how I'm going to measure time now. I promise I don't just sit and watch them all day!

Quilt

My quilt is almost done. This light is horrible but it kind of give you the idea.

I made this quilt like 2 times larger than I started with and I had no place to lay it out well enough to pin the bottom. Now i need to add the binding and actually 'quilt' it. I'm nervous for that part because I'll probably ruin it when I try that part. I read that if you use safety pins on each corner and in the middle of each square, so I'll probably have to buy more. I also read that you can put masking tape across it to help guide you as you quilt.

Maybe I'll finish it this weekend.

(The fabric is called Roco Beat from Hobby Lobby and the solids are just from Joanns if anyone was wondering :))

My Week with Christ

I decided that my 'goal' for 2013 is going to be simple and to the point. I want to become more like Christ. I want to live more how He lived and follow His example better. I want to know Him better and be an example to those around me. There are many many areas in life that I struggle with and I think with this 'goal' I will be able to stop focusing on the negative and start focusing on the positive.

I came across Al Fox's blog several months ago and I check it every once in awhile. She is a convert to the church and her story is pretty cool. If you ever get a chance you should go look at her blog/videos. The other night I was being all insomniac like and watching some of her youtube videos when I came across one that I decided I wanted to do for myself. She had a photo of Christ that she carried around with her all day, she didn't put it down no matter where she went. So that was my inspiration for this week.

I started Monday and taped a little pocket sized photo of Christ in several places around my house like, 

my bathroom mirror

my bedroom door

My bathroom door

my TV

my front door

I taped one to my dashboard too this is just the one I was holding

 I also have one on my computer and the background on my phone is Christ with the sheep.

The idea is that the constant reminder will help me remember not to stress the small things and to let go of my 'whatever's ailing me' at the moment.

Walking around Joann's yesterday I carried this photo around.
I think tomorrow is going to be my 'carry it around all day' day but I carried it around here and there this week.

 I also started a project called, Names of Christ. How many 'names' do you think He is referred to as in the scriptures? I was shocked by the number because I had never thought of those words/phrases as names before.
I'll let you guess. I started by making a list of a lot of names, not all. Each day I'm going to study one name. Some names may take several days, others maybe just a few minutes, I don't know. That will be my scripture study for now. Today I started with Advocate. I will continue to work on that one tomorrow too.

So that's my week this week. Seeing how Christ can make a difference in my life with a few little pictures.

Really you should guess how many names, I dare you.



Random photos just because

I started this quilt on Monday evening. I cut some of the fabric squares out, it wasn't my cup of tea but I did it!! Then I ironed/starched each square. Tuesday I'm usually at work in the office but Sam had major knee surgery again so I was home with Shelley. After our quick trip to Joann's to get the solid fabric I did a little more cutting then laid the design out. I couldn't decide if I wanted random or organized. I chose random but it's not random enough ;). Anyways it hasn't taken as long as I thought it would because I already have the rows sewed together, I just need to sew the rows together, add a backing/binding, and quilt it. School started again this week but it was a slow starting week so I'm taking advantage of the free time I have while I have it. 

This is called my night time insomnia project 2013. I've only cross stitched a couple times in the past but for some reason I think I can just figure things out as I go so it's not anywhere in the vicinity of perfect or straight or 'right' because I'm just doing whatever I want to do. This is the 2013 mutual theme for this year, I saw an outline for this so I drew it on to a piece of fabric and started it. I'm almost done at this point it was a fun little random project. I need to get out more geesh.

Bags or Begs

People make fun of me because of the way I say, Bag. I live near Canada, I'm not Canadian, but I guess people think I have an accent, I don't. Instead of bag I guess it sounds more like beg when I say it, which is the correct way. Just humor me.

Anywho, I've been on a sewing binge lately. I'm obsessed with fabric and usually can't leave a store that sells it without at least looking, if not buying some. So this has led me to a life full of 'stacks' of pretty fabric (I really only have one cube type box full). This last week I decided to 'bust that stash', it's not doing me any good in that box.

Some of that fabric I have sitting around. I'm going to make this stuff into a square quilt. Then if that' successful I'm going to make a triangle quilt. yikes.

To start with, I sewed a couple of fleece blankets to get my feet wet so to speak. Simple, double sided blankets with a simple quick crocheted edge

 funky baby blanket

This is possibly a little more normal baby blanket. I have a big stack of cut up flannel to make about 18 blankets. So if you're having a baby this year chances are you'll get a blanket....:)

For YW we are going to make Sunday tote bags in a couple weeks. This was my practice one to get the directions written out for the girls:

 I'm so excited for this project. It's simple/very cheap/ and customizable to their specific tastes.

Then I decided that I wanted to sew a bag for my friend KneeKole. She hates the plastic bag shopping ban so I made up a funky shopping bag for her to ease the hurt of no more plastic. I found the pattern online. It wasn't really want I wanted so I improvised. Their directions were practically non-existent so I had a bit of trial and error to get it right but I only had to seam rip 2 small parts one time. For having no directions it turned out better than I thought it would. Especially being double sided with the straps done on the same side. That's an adventure!!

 Last night KneeKole came over and I showed her how to make the Sunday totes so we can teach the YW together. After that I stayed downstairs and started another bag similar to the KneeKole bag but a little smaller. It's more of a purse though. I'm almost done just need to sew up the handles and top stitch and it's done.

All my fabric is so funky but I like it like that. It's fun learning how to sew- it's hard not really knowing what I'm doing but I've never been afraid to try a new craft even if it is a total bust. I guess I just don't think about what can go wrong until it does. Very opposite from my 'real regular' life.

Each of my projects has a name of sorts. I usually watch a Netflix movie/show while I sew. The two baby blankets I made are Jericho blankets because I watched the show Jericho while I worked.

KneeKole's bag is named Moulan Rouge. I was charged by one of our YW to watch this movie. I'd never seen it. It's not one that I'd probably watch again but it was ok. I didn't know what to expect. There was one scene that lasted about 2 minutes that I fast forwarded other than that it wasn't as scandalous as I thought it would be considering the setting of the movie. It was just weird is all.

And last night's bag was done in stages so it's a mix between She's the Man and Iron Chef America. I cut it out while watching the movie then sewed it while ICA was on.

That is all. So random but I don't think there is a cure for that.

Welcome Basket

There is a family in my ward who's son is getting married next week. I am friends with his mom and offered to help a little. We went over a weeded a bit on Wednesday then I asked if there was anything else I could do. She was nervous about hosting her future family-in-law because she wanted to be welcoming but had no time to prepare anything. Well this sounds just like my idea of fun. No joke. I love doing this kind of thing so after her protests I told her I was doing it, that she couldn't change my mind and walked away ;).

Here is the result. I don't know this other family at all so I wasn't sure what to buy but I went with generic items so hopefully something will be of use. It started off as towels and evolved from there. Ignore the silly phone pictures please and thank you.

These are both the baskets I made. The one on the left is for the family of 4 so there is a lot of stuff in there. The one on the right is for the newlywed couple. They only needed 2 of everything so their basket is put together a little differently.

A closer up of the newlywed basket. They basically have the same items just packaged a little differently.

To make it a little welcoming I made this little banner using my cricut to cut out the banner shapes, then stamped the letters then used my sewing machine to sew it all together. Much better/easier/faster than gluing the banner to ribbon.

The other welcome sign. I was going to write congratulations but forgot and did a whole welcome banner before realizing it. Woops.

and finally I made a little gift for the grooms mom who has been doing a massive amount of work around her house to prepare for the open house. Seriously I don't know HOW she's doing all of it. This is a sugar hand scrub that gets dirt and grim off your hands in 4 seconds :) plus the sugar makes it exfoliating and leaves your hands super soft. The sticks are to stick in the jar to get the soap out. Totally unnecessary but I just liked how it looked :)


The items that are in the basket are:
Towels for each person, washcloths for each, a hand towel, voss water bottles for each (purely for their shape), travel size shampoo/conditioner (one kind for girls, one kind for guys), body soap, hand soap, bar of soap, little votive jars filled with Q-tips and flossers wrapped in cellophane, toothbrushes, toothpaste, gum, 2 kinds of mouthwash, manicure kit, chocolate lindor truffles, earplugs. I think that's it.


Items I meant to get but couldn't find: luffas, sleeping eye masks, and a few other items I can't remember now


If anyone has any baskets they need made let me know!!


It's so fun to make them.