Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.2

Design Board

So, I just wanted to share a design board that I made just for fun for a friend. I wasn't expecting it to actually come to life, I just loved seeing her new home and her style and had fun making it. If you can't tell, I am not a professional. But it's fun. I have another friend who is hopefully buying a new home and it's so exciting! I wish I could just look at, buy, and decorate houses for a living. Is that a job? Just kidding.

Other crafts in the works:

• My gallery wall is finally taking shape. After months of it sitting empty (and, admittedly, with the Goodwill pricetags still stuck to the glass) I've started filling them. A few are just random shapes and pretty paper from my Cricut. I also included a coaster from our stay at the Centralia McMenamin's, a teppanyaki menu from our cruise, our one-year-anniversary picture, and a few other do-dads. I don't want it to just be pictures, so I'm trying to find mementos from our life to share. Oh yeah, and a cat picture of course! 
• I finished building this, but still need to stain and stencil it. I'm thinking the cricut will be handy in making a stencil with my saying of choice:

•  I'd like to make a large supply of "Any Occasion" cards with my cricut and get them out more. Everyone loves a card to brighten their day!

 

•  I finally bought sheers for our bathroom and some "frosted" window film. However, attempt #1 failed. Here is what I learned: applying window film is not a one-person job. window film is not like a window cling. don't mess up; scraping the adhesive off the window is a pain. Attempt #2 will commence this weekend because I gotsta have my privacy!

•  I bought (another) credenza. It was a WHOPPER of a deal. My mom and I both gravitated to it at the Goodwill before seeing it's craftmanship. The drawers are dove-tailed, the wood is in wonderful condition, and it doesn't smell. Get this, it cost $130. Great deal, right? Wrong. It was marked down to $99. Awesome score, huh? Wrong. It was senior discount day and my lovely mother fit the age requirement which knocked another 10% off. That's right folks, I paid $80 for it. That's approximately $200 less than what I paid for the now-turquoise tv stand. Ugh! But, I'm excited because I can have one that is paintable and one that is not. This one would make a great baby dresser, or who knows what. All I knows is this girl is excited. 

Alright, shut me up. Over and out. Back with more pictures.

Wow. Hi.

I perused my blog today and realized that it has been since August since I have even posted. Here's my 2-sentence excuse (not that you were missing it), then on to other business: my job, my schooling, and my cats have kept me away from my crafts. But we're back in action! Things have calmed down on the home-front and I am only taking one class right now, as opposed to the three I just finished (Psst, I have a 3.91 gpa in my masters program!).

So Christmas happened recently and I thought I'd share some of the more relevant gifts I received. Let's start big. I'm talking Cricut big. Yep, that's right folks, my sister has come through once again... That is, my sister and her love of the home shopping network. We're suckers for a deal, and this Cricut Create was on clearance and came with 3 cartridges that should keep me busy for a while: DonJuan (a font cartridge), Stretch your Imagination (shapes for all seasons/occasions), and Picturesque (lovely geometric and floral shapes).

Not only is it super useful, but it's so much fun! I'm behind the times a bit, but I had no idea what it is capable of. You can change the size, the style (shadow, outline, stretched, etc), and even turn most shapes into greeting cards and gift tags. I am so overwhelmed by the possibility. So far I've made a few cards just to try it out and a few simple shapes for my gallery wall.

In other news, my dear sweet hubs got me some great gifts. I made it very clear that one more hiking dress exercise-related clothing item would mean the end for him. He did well, other than the "No Complaining Rule" book that he bought me. He got me a microwave contraption that makes eggs that fit perfectly into an English Muffin and cook in 45 seconds! He also got me the most expensive pair of shoes/clothing I have ever owned. He did a great job of finding a pair of boots so I can finally jump on that bandwagon. Turns out that he accidentally bought 2 left shoes... but all worked out and I'm just waiting for my skinny jeans to arrive to flaunt them.

Ecco Hobart Boot

It was a nice Christmas. And really, it was more about the wonderful family time that we always get to share in. And also, our annual Hahn family marshmallow gun fight. No one believed me so I finally got proof of just how hard a marshmallow can hit, and this wasn't even close range!

Yep. You saw it here first. Also, another notable night over winter break was our Dexter season finale party! Check THIS out, jealous readers:

I have a giveaway going for whoever can name all of our characters! Just kidding, I don't. 

Alright. Back to business. There have been a few other projects I've had going that I plan on sharing soon (as in, 5 minutes from now in a separate post). Stay tuned, I'm back in action!

Back to reality.

Well, I haven't blogged in awhile 1) because I haven't been particularly crafty as of late, 2) I'm too lazy, and 3) because my head is completely overloaded with MATH. Don't get me wrong, I love math. But, I am currently taking a week-long workshop on grades 7-10 math concepts. On top of that, I am doing two weeks worth of coursework for both of my masters class (which would really be like 4 weeks worth since there are two classes. see how good at math I am?). Now that it is Wednesday and someone else did some of my homework, I am feeling much more confident that I can complete my final papers and projects before we leave on our cruise. Which is awesome. Anyway, enough blah blah.

Here is what has been happening:

1. Kitten almost has a name. We've had her a month. John is doing this to torture me (remember, I said he could name her since she was a surprise). I think he likes my top pick but doesn't want to name her that since he's "punishing me" for bringing her home without permission. She's not growing much, and I'm okay with that. Definitely is 100% kitten mode.

2. Being more active, which includes elliptical-ing, zumba-ing (as usual), and zumba wii-ing. Also, walking. My goal is 900 minutes of walking in August. That is 30 minutes per day, elliptical included. So far, so good.

3. My gallery wall is slowly but surely coming together. Missing still are the two square frames. No photos added, but I have definitely decided I like it.

4. More cat time. Carlton is putting up with kitten more. It's cute to see them interact and follow me around all day. Carlton likes to watch me play zumba wii with his judgmental eyes. He is hoarse right now from a cold and it is funny to hear his smoker-meow. Kitten likes to follow Carlton and get caught on dresses in the laundry room.

5. Did this a while ago. Called "water marbling." Look it up on youtube. Could definitely stand to do more subtle colors next time, but it was fun to try. Since I'm so girly.

6. Long time, no see Snoqualmie Falls. My mom and I had a date and came here with our matching Black Tea Lemonade. Then we hit up Famous Footwear and scored a sweet sale + buy one get one 50% off on matching white Pumas for the cruise. and Zumba. We are so cool.

7. Home-grown Zucchinis are a success! Check out that beauty up there. This is numero uno of dos. Stay tuned on the yellow squash and corn, they have yet to make an appearance. Good job, John.

8. Used Heartsy to get this handmade, one-of-a-kind circle scarf from Tea Rex. And holy-crapoly she posted a bunch more cute ones since I bought... Boo.... Soooo. fun. Decided this school year is all about simple, flattering clothing with fun accessories! Because I'm so girly.

9. And finally, another project I haven't completed. Someday it will be stained in "Kona Brown" and will have something artistic painted on it and will hang on our landing. But until then... it doesn't.

My Social Life

Well I've had a fun past few days. On Thursday I drove up north to meet a friend and go to the Brandi Carlile concert. This is the 4th time I've seen her, and it's rare for me to see artists more than once. She grew up near my hometown and got her start in Bellingham, where I went to college. John and I saw her in 2009 the night before we got engaged, and our friends sang one of her songs at our wedding. Not super uplifting, but this song related to us being long distance, and I think it's beautiful.


The other thing I love about her is her ability to belt it out! She knows when to be soft, when to yodel (!!), and when to scream. She's awesome live.



I went with my friend Julie, who is pure awesome. She was my accomplice in the Surprise Kitten Purchase of 2011 a few weeks back. Anyway, she can make fun out of everything, see?

Thanks for all the pictures you don't know that I stole from Facebook, Julie! :) It was great to visit Bellingham again. After the concert we went to another friend's house and had a little fire. It was a lovely time, and the latest I've stayed out in a while!

I went back down to Tacoma on Friday so that John and I could attend a friend's wedding.

Then yesterday we went to a car show that John was helping with in Gig Harbor. It was one of the first years so it was still pretty small, but fun. We also stopped by the park in Gig Harbor that has a view of the Narrows Bridges.

Looking forward to my last completely free week! After this week I've got a week-long training, our cruise to Alaska, another week-long training, then prepping for school! Whew!

Sleepy, Rainy Monday

Well, I slept in later than I have all summer (hey, that's pretty good) but it's okay because it was thundering and pouring rain when I got up. Also, I found my camera charger, so that motivated me to take a few shots of what I've been up to. That list of mine is slowly getting checked off.

First, I'm making progress on my gallery wall, which I started months ago (I want to say December...sad). I couldn't commit to where I wanted to put it but I'm going for it this time! I still have 2 more frames to paint, but that's not too shabby. I have the configuration up on the wall and plan on hammering in the nails within the next few days (trying not to set myself up for failure here). Can't wait to see it done!

I also started working on the paper dahlias I mentioned. I finished one, but ran out of hot glue sticks and will possibly run out of paper for the second one... which could throw a kink in things. Anyway, it took a few hours of watching The Talk, All My Children, and The Doctors the news to finish one, but I'm really happy with how it turned out and can't wait to hang them above our bed! This is my first book-paper project that turned out well, unlike my horrible Christmas tree... Also, did I mention the book I picked up at Goodwill to use happened to be Schindler's List?? What an uplifting book to have on the walls of our bedroom... sorry anyone who is offended that after I realized it (when I got home) I still used it. The pages were stiff and white!

I also hung up a few other things, namely my copy cat made-it-myself print of  "I heart you because ____." I've seen so many versions but realized that I know how to work Photoshop enough to just make and print my own. Turned out pretty well - and we finally have something up in our bathroom.Oh, and there's that toiler paper art that's been sitting on the floor for months... It got a little tore up waiting.

Oh and I had a great time scrapbooking with my mom and sister, although I only completed one page.

Pinterested?

Everybody's doing it. I've been on for a while now, but it'd be great to have more people to follow! :)