Projects

Isn't there always a project to do?? One gets done and another one starts to rear its ugly head.

I'm actually really good at staying on top of the mail, meaning that I bring it in every day, divide it up between the three adults in the house, recycle the junk and put my stuff "away."

Unfortunately, some of the "away" accumulated into a foot-high pile of mail, catalogs, fliers and other paperwork...



...which I JUST condensed into THIS.



Which definitely gave the area and the whole room a neater appearance...which made THIS all the more glaring!!

Does your craft area ever get to this state??



About 20% less messy and I actually work and function quite well. But this mess is a teensy bit too much. The "constantly searching for one certain stamp or ink pad" kind of mess. Oy, this'll be project, mainly cuz I've acquired more "stuff" and need to organize it into its proper place. Then I probably won't be able to find anything!! :)



And this is my Christmas gift project.

My inspiration came from this on Etsy.



Mine won't be nearly as fancy but it'll be the same idea!

I'm planning to make them into ornaments and give them to my nephews and niece, so I'm not really risking ruining the surprise. I doubt they follow this blog. Even their mommies don't follow this blog (sniff, sniff).

I'm going to do this one for my son as a trial and error, so I can give YOU step-by-step instructions on how to do it as quickly, easily and cheaply as possible!!

I've already figured out that sanding it and maybe even priming it would've been a good start but I'm too impatient!! This will end up being about a $1.50 each project, plus it's handmade and personalized!! So stay tuned!!



After the laundry is finished and I clean the bathroom, maybe I'll conquer that craft table!

Sincerely 'Fro Me To You, mime costume

This certainly could be scary for some of you...

If you were part of a youth group (or just a church, particularly in the South) in the early 1990s, do you remember mime troupes coming around and visiting churches with their "act?" I do!

The one I remember did choreography to popular Christian songs (not dancing, of course. Southern Baptists can't dance, so we called it 'choreography'). I imagine that's what inspired THIS.



I remember that hair so well. The crunchy factor was high on this Halloween.

I believe the make-up consisted just of the red lips, black lined eyes, and little curly-cues with stick-on rhinestones next to each eye. Fabulous.

I think the one hand up, in mime language, was "I'm a little embarrassed but there's no turning back now, so 'hi'."

And that's all I have to say about that.

Crazy 8s

1.Post rules on your blog.
2.Answer the six "8" items.
3.Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving them a comment.

8 FAVORITE TV SHOWS

1. What Not to Wear
2. Designed to Sell
3. A Baby Story
4. The Office
5. Say Yes to the Dress
6. UFC
7. ??
8. ??

8 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY

1. napped
2. cleaned
3. ate & snacked continuously
4. uploaded pictures to Facebook
5. made my birthday party invitations
6. made my birthday party guest-list & to-do list
7. checked out our new Super Target
8. attended Bible study

8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO

1. Christmas!
2. All our November birthday
3. Finding out the gender of our baby
4. My grandparents' visit in December
5. Thanksgiving with the family
6. Any date night I can get with my hubby!
7. New maternity clothes
8. My son turning 3

8 FAVORITE RESTAURANTS

1. Logan's Roadhouse
2. Olive Garden
3. Mimi's Cafe
4. Chick-Fil-A
5. Souper Salad
6. On the Border
7. El Zocalo
8. Abby's Garden Tea Room

8 THINGS ON MY WISH LIST

1. a new camera
2. learning to sew
3. a successful Etsy shop
4. black leather boots
5. a weekend getaway with my hubby
6. cool crafting supplies
7. a new purse
8. health for our family

8 PEOPLE TO TAG
1. I tag anyone who wants to do it!! :)

Card making on the cheap

If you know me, you know my cards are all about affordable and easy! I'm not into these ridiculously ornate or overly-complicated cards that take an entire day to make. I try to buy my components for as cheap as I can and recycle when possible.

SO! Here's some ideas for how I do it, in case you're like me and try to make wonderful cards for just a little dough!

For my 31st birthday now merely a month away, I'm throwing myself a cupcake-themed party. I needed to make invitations and QUICK! So I headed for the clearance stationary at Target after a tip from a friend that they had stuff deeply discounted.

Here's s tip: Thank You cards are the ones most often on clearance. If the card is lovely and the "Thank You" sentiment is small, you can easily cover it up and make it whatever you want it to be!! You have to keep an open mind in the clearance section! Cheap cards can also be cut apart to be used for other projects!

This set of 12 note cards set me back a mere $1.32 for the set! The cupcake embellishments were $3.19 for 6...making the grand total for my entire card...$0.64!! Now, that is budget friendly!

Here's the cards and cupcakes.



So I used pink card stock and my scalloped-edge punch, then adhered that bad boy over the "Thank You" and slapped on a cupcake! DONE! I could add a "You're invited" stamp, but if I don't find the time, I am happy with these "as-is."

To my delight, when I opened this package, not only are the cards a matte finish, which I love...but the inside was green (my favorite color) and the enveloped were green and blue! YES!!





Here's the set of six. I think I'll use lime green paper for the scalloped punch on the next set.



And here are some other bargains you may want to be on the look-out for. These pretty note cards (printed the same on the front and back, blank in the middle) were 12 for $1.44. That's $0.12 each!! Ridiculous. They're pretty enough as-is, especially with the nice envelope BUT with a simple stamp in brown ink on plain or printed coordinating paper and you've got yourself an extra-special card! I wish I'd have gotten more. I could sell one card and make all my money back!! These would be great as a set to give as a gift!



And this raffia was $0.25 each, perfect for tags or to wrap packages!



Happy bargain hunting! Let me know what you find!

Talk about creepy

I took this quiz on Facebook, using my maiden name and what I thought about my husband-to-be before we met. So it may be a little skewed but still--what're the odds??

What Letter Does Your Soulmate's Name Start With?

Result: The Letter A
Possibly (but not limited to) Addison, Aaliyah, Aaron, Adam, Abigail, Abby or Aiden.

My hubby's name is Andrew!! :)

Bonus fortunes:
You will meet on: an airplane.
You will honeymoon in: Angola.
Your children will be: adorable.
Your in-laws will be: annoying.

Yeah, we met at his aunt and uncle's house on Thanksgiving weekend. We honeymooned in Mexico. Our son IS adorable! :) But I love my in-laws!!

Oh, well, the result still made me giggle!!

Are sugar plums dancing in YOUR head??

They are in mine!!

Along with homemade cookies, kids' initial ornaments, pink Christmas trees, festive lip glosses, handmade purses...

Oh, I have a lot of ideas and of course I'll be sharing them!!

Here's the first round of my favorites, snatched right out of "Woman's Day" magazine.

Giving homemade cookies is no new idea but I love this fun way of packaging them! Cheap and cute!! A stack o' cookies, wrapped in cellophane and tied with ribbon! Oh, yeah!



And I adore this idea. Instead of writing names on your gift tags, attach a photo of the recipient!! Do it on heavy paper (even laminate it) and it becomes an ornament!



BUT, before I get too caught up in the Christmas spirit, I have to get through November!! And November in our family is "The Month of Never Ending Birthdays." Here's the run-down:

TWO sister-in-laws
One brother-in-law
TWO nephews
my mom
my son
and ME!
And a handful of good friends, too!

Plus my parents AND grandparents anniversaries! Thankfully, those are just card occasions but the rest require GIFTS!

Alerting my hubby to the quickly approaching M.O.N.E.B.s, he said, "Don't even tell me. Just budget ten bucks each." CAN DO!

Thankfully, my holiday magazines are pouring in with wonderful "under ten dollars" gift ideas!

Here's Idea #1: Boots No7 Colour Compact at Target for just $10!! It includes three eye shadows, three lip glosses and a shimmer face powder, all in a lovely compact. Boots is Target's more "natural" brand. I've heard this is sold out on the web site so I will be checking my local stores and snatching them up! Perfect for SILs and moms!!



I'll be alerting you to other fun ideas and bargains as we go along! Happy dreaming!

You can't pick your family...

...but you can pick your nose and ruin an otherwise cute picture with your mom.

Here's me boy and I at the local farm/pumpkin patch today.

This cracks me up. It is now my desktop background, just so I can have a laugh.

I mean, he's doing some serious digging there. The screwed up face really makes it.



And this is the best we could do. This is what he does to those he really, really loves. It looks terrible--but it's just a super-intense hug with a little non-biting involved. He evidently loves me a LOT.



This one also makes me giggle. He's giving that innocent scarecrow such a "What the...?!?" look!!!



There were plenty of cute pictures, too, but...what fun is that??? :)

I hope your Friday was fun, too!

Yep, still pregnant!!

I'm 12 weeks along now--almost into the second trimester--and finally feeling better! I went to the OB yesterday and got to see the baby--she had to use the ultrasound to find the heartbeat because the baby was sleeping and laying low! It was awesome and I feel so much better about everything, knowing the baby is OK!

For all the latest news, check out my pregnancy blog

Proudgrits Is Preggers

And "thank you" to those who have been praying for and thinking about us!!

Fall fabulous cards

I was a busy, busy bee Saturday night! That deal where you go to the kitchen for a drink and go, "Is it really ten o' clock already?? Where'd the last two hours go??" I love it when that happens!!

This is a Thank You card I made for my hubby's boss, who treated us all to lunch last week. She's a business woman so I thought the argyle was just silly/serious enough to work. She's definitely both!



This is it's sister.



I also made two more invitations for my Crafternoon. I think they're super-cute!



These are generic "just a note" cards.



And I made a couple fall birthday cards. I love the shots of teal and purple!



The stripes remind me of a man's sweater from the 80s!



Then I made a slew of Happy Thanksgiving cards. My hubby liked this one best but it was hard to get a good picture. See the sparkles?



This one is pretty simple.



I like this color combo.



And this one was inspired be an idea book but I used yarn instead of ribbon...and to me, it's a little fussy and bulky. Hmm. I doubt I'll sell this one. Thoughts??



Lastly, I'm cooking up some ideas and color schemes for some Christmas items...here's a preview.



Most of these will be in my Etsy shop early this week!

What cards are you giving away lately??

Saturday craftin'

I'm workin' away on a few Crafternoon invitations to give out tomorrow. YES, it's a week away--but I figure, people are busy or they aren't and they want to come or they don't...and you tell them too far ahead and they forget!

I whipped these up and have plans for several more. Simple, pretty and fallish. If I got one of these (I often complain of never getting invited to anything. Doesn't anyone host anything cool anymore??), I'd take one look and say "I'll be there!"

But, alas, people are "busy" (I hate that word--who's not busy?? I just tell people it's not a priority!) and sometimes hesitate trying something new, so...we'll see who ends up coming! If it's my mom and I, so be it!



Later today, my SIL and I are headed to historic downtown Glendale for their Front Porch Festival. There should be lots of fall goodies to check out and tons of great shopping and giveaways--I'll keep you posted!

Friday's Find

This adorable cupcake necklace!!

I mean, seriously. This is one if THE cutest things I've ever seen. I love tiny things and this one is PINK and sparkly--fabulous!! Only about $13 with shipping! I've requested it from my hubby in time for my cupcake-themed 31st birthday party! :)





Here's the listing on Etsy but don't you dare buy one until I make sure she's making more!!

Cupcaaake Etsy shop

AND GET THIS! I was just checking her shop policies and discovered that we SHARE THE SAME BIRTHDAY! Funny, huh?? :)

New goodies!

These were just added to my Proudgrits11 Etsy shop today!

Cards for birthday and baby, tags and leaves! Fresh off my craftng table!







Check them out at

MY SHOP!

Sincerely 'Fro Me to You...costume #1

A mouse.

This was 1990. Braces, baby, gotta love it! My friend got cropped out but she was a hippie. I don't even know where we were headed, maybe just to school (I vaguely recall dressing up every year) or our church's fall festival. K, do you remember??

I wish I could figure out a way for a black sweat suit to count as a costume this year...maybe I need to track down some mouse ears!!

The make-up is interesting. Take away the ears and I'm not sure the face alone would say "mouse." Kinda cute, though! My mom, being a clown as mentioned last week, did the make-up.

An interesting tidbit is that my dad called me "Mouser" when I was a little girl. Why? Beats me. But maybe that's why I chose a mouse. Or maybe I just wanted to wear sweats all day!