Wednesday, July 27, 2011

It's a Major Award!

It's Wednesday!


 You know what that means...one lucky reader will be saying...

this just makes me laugh

A few preemptive comments...
1. I have no earthly idea how to add numbers to your comments. Ergo, I had to count each entry to figure out the winner.
2. It's 2011, and I'm very likely the most tech-UNsavvy blogger in existence.

OK, all that being said, chosen by the tiny robots in the computer on random.org, the winner of the Frenchy Bag is....

#17, Samantha!
Samantha is a new reader.  She also has a blog.  I checked it out...turns out she's a mommy of triplets!  Whoa!  Congrats Samantha! I really hope you like your new bag!!!  :)

And to everyone who participated, it was just so much fun to read your comments and visit your blogs.  Keep coming back; there's more fun stuff ahead!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Pinterest Love

I am on such a Pinterest kick lately! So many wonderful ideas out there. And yesterday, we actually did one. The kids & I made homemade lava lamps.  They were more like fizzy colored water, but nevertheless...fun stuff!

Here are some other things I've been pinning...

that would be a necklace made from a t-shirt.  Awe-some.  How cute would that look on me???  Oops, I mean...how cute is that???
using stamps to impress decorations on cookies.  brilliant!
Love this!  So true!
great idea for storing ribbon.  That's an old cassette tape holder!  So smart.
homemade rock candy.  This is next on our to-do list.  The kids are psyched!
this ruffle headband is definitely on my "to sew" list. 
I could go on and on!  Pinterest is a really fun and inspiring thing.  Are you on yet?  If not (and you'd like to be), let me know and I'll send you an invite!  That makes it sound so exclusive.  It's not!  I think it's just sort of new and all.  And are you following me on Pinterest?  You can click on the button over there on the right, and see my pins...I will follow you back!  The more the merrier!  I have to say, though, I've had to "un-follow" some people because I couldn't look at their pins with my children in the room.  D'oh!  I like to keep it clean, people!!!  But the nice thing is, you can pick and choose which boards you like to follow, so you can kind of weed out material that you don't personally want to look at. ;)  If all this sounds confusing, then you should definitely head over there and give it a try! 

Monday, July 25, 2011

You people are awesome!

Can I just say...

I'm having the BEST time reading all of these fun comments you guys are leaving! Especially the giveaway entries. So many new friends here!!! I feel like I'm having a party or something! Except I didn't even have to clean the house. Yesssss. 

I have to admit, I put off doing the giveaway for a few weeks, because I was NERVOUS that no one would want to enter. (Are you hearing the voice of George McFly yet? "I just don't think I can take that kind of rejection!")

www.top10films.co.uk
Anyway, I'm so glad to be meeting you all.  Thank you so much for being here!!!  

Saturday, July 23, 2011

My tacky yard sale find

Remember...if you haven't entered my handmade bag giveaway yet, hop to it!  It ends on Wednesday. 

DH & I were, as is our custom, at a yard sale earlier this summer.  At this one sale, I kept seeing this sad little wooden cat. It was super-tacky.  (See exhibit A, below.)  I thought to myself, "who would buy that?" And I don't know why, but I kept thinking about it - where it would end up (Goodwill or the dumpster, I figured), or what kind of person would look at it and decide that they'd pay a quarter to have it in their house.

Exhibit A: The Tacky Wooden Cat, bless its heart
 And then, inexplicably, I picked it up.

What the heck, say you???  I honestly don't know!  I just think I thought, if I can make this stupid tacky thing look cute, I will be amazed, and declare myself the queen.  Queen of what, I don't know. 

So it sat for a while in my sewing room, staring at me with those sad, crooked little eyes.  As if to say, "don't make fun of me. I'm just a wooden cat."  I just needed it to sit there until I figured out what to do.  Well, when I don't know what to do with something, usually the spraypaint comes out.  Either that, or Mod Podge.  Well, this time, it was both.  A double dose!

First the spraypaint.

Ahh, better already!
Next, I just kind of had an idea of some sort of stylized design.  Vinyl, maybe.  It would have been glorious to have a Silhouette machine for just such an occasion, but alas. 

So I turned to the SCRAP BAG.  I have to type SCRAP BAG in all caps, because it is such a ridiculous bag of scraps.  Crammed full of fabric. 

Behold: the SCRAP BAG.
Sometimes when I'm feeling extra lazy, I'll stuff a piece of fabric in there that's probably too big to be considered a scrap.  That's why the bag has become a SCRAP BAG.

Yikes!
And then I turned on the TV and started cutting.  This was a perfect "TV craft" - the kind of craft that doesn't take too much brainpower.  I love those.  I usually like to knit while I'm watching TV, but in this heat (with no air conditioning), I'm not touching any kind of yarn.  Not with a 10 foot pole.

I cut the scraps into smaller scraps, then laid them out in some formation that didn't exactly look like what I envisioned, but it was pretty interesting nonetheless.


 Then I Mod Podged them all down...

that's my official Mod Podging finger. 
It was at this point that the second-guessing began. 
...and decided that I wanted to do a little more....so I just went with it.


You could say that this was an "organic" craft process.  Mainly because no pesticides or hormones were used.

So I present to you: The Wooden Cat That Used To Be Tacky But Is Now Kind Of Cool.




I'd like to put it to a vote, and you won't hurt my feelings...

Is this an improvement, or did I only make matters worse?
Would you have this in your home? (And the attic doesn't count)
Am I nuts?

Don't answer that last one.

 Personally, I'm loving it!

Linking this week to:

Join  us Saturdays at tatertotsandjello.com for the weekend wrap 
 up           party!Tidy MomTransformation Thursdayadd a pinch.comsouthern hospitalityThe Girl CreativeMakingTodays Creative Blog

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

A Giveaway: That sort of thing's my bag, baby!

Hi, glad you're here!  The giveaway is now closed, though. But why don't you stick around anyway?  :)

Please forgive the Austin Powers reference. These are the things that are taking up valuable space in my brain.

So anyway...who's ready for a giveaway?  This will be my first one!  Remember those Two Peas in a Pod Ava bags I made last month?



This giveaway is for The Frenchy Bag: ooh la la





 One of you awesome readers can win this!  Here's what you need to do to enter:

Follow Pleased as Punch, like, for real!  No more lurking for you!  Just go to the right of this page and click on "join this site," and register.  Then, leave a comment to let me know that you have done that (or already are a follower, of course).  That's all!  

I'll choose a winner one week from today (which will be Wednesday, July 27).  To be fair, I'll probably do the random number chooser thingy.  But wouldn't it be fun to be unfair?  I could choose the wittiest comment...or whoever lavishes the most praise on my cute purses...well, I'll make it fair, I promise.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Highs and Lows: Mid-summer edition

July 17 already. Weren't my kids just getting out of school? What happened? I do not like the way time goes so quickly. :(

I think I'll start with the lows this week, because I like to end on a positive note!

Lows:
1. Another Sunday at church, without DH. It's only because of his work schedule, which is such a quandary. On one hand, I'm extremely thankful for his job. I really am. We've been through a lot of stuff that makes me NOT take his job for granted (most of the time anyway)! But the nature of what he does causes him to be working most weekends. That stinks big-time.

So the church thing...every week it's a battle (for me): do I go, or do I take the lazy way out and declare it a "we're just gonna do stuff around the house today" day? It's so easy to do that, and I have done it way too much. I never regret it when I go, but I often regret it when I don't. It's obvious what I should do; it's just difficult to actually do it.

2. I've been in a bit of a mood lately.  Everything annoys me.  I don't know why.  Rrrrrrrrrrrrgh.

3. I joke about letting the house go, but for real.  This house is stressing me out.  It's super-filthy.  Well not Hoarders filthy.  But the clutter is piling up, yet again, and I need to clean in the worst way.  Ugggghhhhhhh.

Highs:
1. We got Maggie this week!  She is just the sweetest little thing.  I've never been much of a "small dog" person; I grew up with a St. Bernard (best dog ever!), Rottweiler (another awesome dog), Doberman, German Shepherds here and there...you know, DOGS.  Never a little piggy/gremlin-like thing that snorts and snuggles on the couch.  I wasn't sure at first.  But she is just perfect for our family. 

DH brought her home in the best way, too!  We were expecting to get her next week.  But the owner called and said that she was ready any time (she'd just had puppies a little over a month ago).  So DH called me and said that he had an appointment and wouldn't be back till the afternoon.  I didn't think a thing of it.  When I heard the car pull into the garage, the door opened, and in ran little Maggie!  Best surprise ever!!! 

2. Our Abby (7yo) made the cheerleading squad!  This is her first year trying out, too.  I was absolutely sure that she wouldn't make it.  I mean, not that she's not good...but it's only her first year!  I didn't even bother to do the first fundraiser because I thought there would be no point.  Oopsie.  I'm so proud of her! I guess now I really do have to be on that stupid committee after all.  Oh well, it's worth it.  :)

3. One of the nice things about DH's job, even though he works most weekends, is that he gets to take off sometimes 3 days in a row during the week.  Last week was one of those weeks.  We got so much accomplished: he put in a laundry line/dog run, which is working out just swimmingly.  Last night we slept on line-dried sheets...ahhhhhhh.  Love that. 

Also, we built a potting shed!  This one.  It could not have been much easier.  I love that Knock-off Wood website.  I'd take a picture, but I'm being lazy.  I'll put one up later.  Right now I'm trying to decide whether to leave it unfinished, stain it, or paint it.  I'll put a pic up later and you can give some unsolicited advice.  Well, I guess now it would be solicited advice....

4. A surprise visit from my dear friend Molly...bearing iced mochas and tastykakes...for some reason, this summer we just haven't seen much of each other!  Our kids get along great and it's always a highlight of my week when we get together.  She homeschools, and I, as I mentioned before, am lazy.  Just kidding.  But my kids do go to public school, so during the school year, it's harder to get the kids together.  So often, we just text each other a lot!  Anyway, it was really nice to just sit on the deck and dominate the conversation talk for a bit.

5. About once a month or so (once a week during the school year), I get together with a few other friends.  We TALK.  And one of them happens to be a licensed counselor - score! :)  Anyway, 3 out of the 4 of us got together this week so that the kids could swim. (Not at my house.  I wish!)  The kids swam for about oh, maybe 30-45 minutes or so, and then got out and played.  But the three of us moms floated around in the sunshine and talked for I don't know how many hours.  It was seriously the most relaxing day. I really needed that!

6. I gained a new blog follower this morning that I am really excited about: my own DH!!!!!!!!!!  I think he should start a blog of his own and put his football commentary on there.  He'd have like a million followers in no time. The guy is FUNNY!  And smart.  And he knows his football.  My sister has a hard time getting over the fact that I have a jersey of my own (that I actually wear).  Being married to a Steelers fan is like....you can't not be one, too.  It is so much fun.  For real!  But I digress.  As usual. 

So there they are...the highs and lows of my week.  Jen, you rock for starting this thing.  It's fun! 

Friday, July 15, 2011

Meet Maggie! ...And a note to my readers (at the end) :)

Disclaimer: (no, not really a disclaimer)

Warning: (no, not really a warning)

Ok, here it is, people: Normally, when I see a blog post about someone's "fur-babies," I keep right on clicking...away from that blog.  Well, with the exception of one blog, which I love.  :)  But here I am, posting about our little Maggie!  In my defense, we just got her.  So I had to share! 
I'd just caught her eating the cat food. 






Just look at that little face!  She's a 3yo French Bulldog - "dog people" would call her a "Frenchie."  She's such a sweet little thing.  So cuddly!  Last night she slept in the laundry basket (full of um...pre-washed? laundry) next to our bed.  (I'm in the market for a wire crate that doesn't cost more than my last car.)  Instead of barking, she snorts, and has a curly little tail...I keep reminding myself that she's a DOG, not a little piggy! 

I think we're all already in love.  :)  Let's put it this way: for the better part of our blessed decade together, I've been nagging requesting my DH to put up a clothesline for me in the backyard.  Yesterday, (10 years and 1 week later) he did it.  For MAGGIE.  So that she could have more room to run in our un-fenced yard...we hook up her tie thingy to that, and she can run all over the place.  Oh, and the wife can hang stuff out to dry on it too, I guess. 

The day he comes home with flowers for Maggie, we're gonna have to have a talk. 

***

Oh, and while you're here (all both of you?), I should say this: don't give up on my blog!  I totally love writing, knowing that someone besides just me is actually reading it.  And you never know when you just may be entertained.   And even though I've done absolutely nothing interesting or creative on here in, well, it seems like a while...I've got things going on behind the scenes, really I do!  It's just that - and I know I've said this before - it's summer.  When I (re) started blogging, I decided that I'd take the advice of "living life first, THEN blogging about it."  So when I go for a while without posting, it's just because I'm actually doing stuff. 

Enjoying my kids. 
Swimming with them.
Sewing. 
Knitting.
Watching Netflix documentaries with the DH every night.
Zookeeping in the tee-ball dugout. 
Taking pics of the dog. 
Building stuff with my DH. 
Eating ice cream at Shaffer's. 
Letting the house go to pot. 

You know, that sort of thing. 

But I want you (seriously, 41 readers?  that is so cool!) to know that I have really enjoyed "meeting" those of you who have taken the time to comment & email.  I hope to get to know you better, and I mean that!!! 

So have a great weekend.  Thanks so much for being here!

Friday, July 8, 2011

Scrunchie Bag from One Yard Wonders

I made this bag for my sister's birthday back in April.  It's from the One Yard Wonders book.  You see, once upon a time, I was participating in a sewalong at Pink Chalk Studio.  And then the library book came due.  (Is that grammatically correct?)  And thus ended my participation in the sewalong.  It was kinda dumb that I didn't just buy the darn thing on amazon; I just didn't.  Oh well!  I guess summer had gotten here, and I got occupied with other things...anyway.  When I saw that today on the PCS blog that they had done the Scrunchie Bag, I thought, hey!  I sewed that bag!  So, while it probably doesn't count as a "sewalong" project, since I did it like, 3 months ago, well...here it is anyway!  It was super easy to make.  Great instructions, really simple pattern...and fun.  What a cute bag! 





Thursday, July 7, 2011

A Decade of Marriage

Happy 10th Anniversary today to me and my dear husband!

I took a little trip down memory lane this morning up in the attic.  I found my tiara, our wedding program, the top of my wedding dress (it was in two pieces)...I put it around myself to see if it could still fit...(honestly I think I was like a size negative 4 back then.  Times were good, let me tell you.)  I found our guestbook, where everyone wrote us a little note of marriage advice...reading through the notes, I had a good laugh...some anonymous person wrote "get naked!"  Ha ha. 

And I found all these pics! 

aww, lovebirds.  in matching sneakers.

check out the back of my dress!  I loved that.


the new Mr. & Mrs.  Not a clue what we had just signed up for.

wow.  look at all that hair!  I'm sorry, it had to be said.  Love you honey!!!


The one thing DH requested when I (re)started this blog was that I leave him out of it.  So I have, pretty much.  ;)  Anyway, whether a marriage has been easy (do you actually know of any of those?) or challenging, 10 years is a big stinkin' deal.  I'm just happy to be where we are right now.