Ain't they cute?

It makes me happy to see some of my craftiness put to good use!

This is Hope's son, Hayden, lookin all sporty:


This is Joe & Sue's (Matt's friends from college) little Miss Lyla:

My Latest Project(s)

I'm really excited about these little things. I've made the cutest little beanie with flowers for my sister to stay warm on her and mama's upcoming trip to New York.



Ignore the little loop there on the bottom of the flower. It's not attached yet. It was just sitting on top at the time... because, what I decided to do to make it more versatile (yes, a versatile beanie) is to add little snaps to it and make different color flowers to match your coat or outfit!! Yay!! Here's the ones I did for Brooke to go on her black beanie...



Aren't they cute? And the ones for babies are really super cute too! Just having problems getting the pattern to work for me... I'm working on some adjustments.

Trapped

I'm sitting here, having had a 21 hour day for work yesterday and worked until 6:30 tonight, thinking, "I'm trapped. I'm a creative wanna be stay-at-homer (no I don't have any kids, so what?) trapped in a corporate world."

I like my job - I do. The industry is great, I get to work for home, what more could I ask? But when I turn my head ever so slightly to the left while sitting at my desk, I see that amazing craft closet I have created.... ok, ok, hubs helped me a bit with the putting together of the shelves and whatnot (details, details)... I just want to go pull out all those beautiful colored and patterned papers and put down all the memories we've ever had in a perfectly detailed book, make birthday cards months in advance for friends, create adorable little tags for Christmas presents, crochet the cutest little bonnets you've ever seen in your life for every little girl I know (and don't know yet) aaaand finally actually figure out how in the world to do more than just the basic stitch in knitting.

Yes, that's what I want to do. Why don't I? I'm exhausted. Yeah, yeah, I hear you... "but you're too young to be tired", "just wait until you have kids - then you'll know tired", etc. etc. etc. yada yada yada. No, I don't know that stuff yet, but you know what, I'm still tired! And looking at the "project plan" for the rest of the year for work... lawd, that makes me even more tired just thinking about it. Not to mention the mess that is my apartment that I should probably be cleaning as we speak rather than sitting here drinking this glass of wine and blogging. But I digress...

So, folks, I guess all I'm really trying to say is that I feel trapped. I have this creative, homey, side of me that is just bursting to come out and say hello to the world alot more often... yet, instead, it is stuck sitting at the computer, having to do corporatey professional things that just suck the life out of any creativity. I mean, it's not all bad, I suppose... it pays the bills, right?

And I do like my job...

...just wish it involved more colors, glitter, and yarn...

Crafty Creativity Update

So y'all may remember a previous post where I discussed my new flair for craftiness. Well, someone (yes, you know who you are) has been asking to see some of the latest cards I've made. Well, I've made three cards lately - exciting huh? But you should probably know that I've been so busy and my brain has been hurting so much that they were all the same card. I just used different colors. What can I say, when the brain is full, there are limits to the things I can do.

So here's some pics of the cards I made.





By the way I do have a slight addiction to my Sizzix products.... but never fear - I ALWAYS buy when they're on sale... for the most part. It's funny though cause as I purchase the cute die cuts I can totally see how I will use them in the future on a scrapbook page or card. I've been working on more scrapbook pages, but the problem is they take just a little longer and require more focus than making a card. So, yes, I am STILL in the process of scrapping our trip to Vegas... from last October... as we plan our trip to Vegas for this year. Aye yae yae, I've got to get moving on that. But anyway, that's just a side note.

What could be sidetracking me from getting this done other than the work trips and just plain brain tiredness, you ask? Well... in the midst of this, I have also decided I need to add another deminsion to my craftiness... or domesticness, if you will. When Paula - Matt's mother - was in town a few weeks ago, I got her to show me the basics of knitting. Yeah, it seemed pretty ok easy, but I did a little research online and it just seemed like most people thought crocheting was a little easier. And that's what I'm looking for - easy domesticness!

So now, when my brain starts to shut down and I just want to sit in front of the tv, I do this:


I know, I'm totally a Grandma - before I'm a Ma.

And yes, my loving handsome husband is AMAZED at my talent of being able to crochet and still watch the tv well enough to know EVERYTHING that is happening on the latest episode of Tori & Dean.

But I enjoy it. It's the first one, and I'm learning from a how to book. I started to follow a pattern and then realized I didn't want to focus enough to really understand what that crazy pattern was "saying" with all of it's *s and sc and dc language. So, I just made my own pattern! Therefore, I've decided afghan #1 will belong to Dixie. She won't care if it looks a little crooked or ghetto. She just wants to lay on it!

Anywho... so there's my update on craftiness. More updates on other genre's to come...

Gettin' Crafty

So, one of my favorite things to do lately to help me de-stress is to get crafty. I've got an awesome setup to get scrapbookin', but what I've enjoyed doing a lot of lately is making cards. Here's a couple of the ones I made lately...

For our niece's bday:


For a friend that's having a baby who hasn't gotten this card yet so I hope she doesn't see this: