I'm Baaack!

Sew*CakeMaker family vacation is over!!!  We are home and napping 90% of the time today to make up for all that nothing we accomplished over our extended weekend up north.  Here are a couple pics of our adventure.  Be warned that there is very little useful information here, but we had the absolute best time ever!

Our first stop was our favorite place to eat of all time.  While there are locations closer to us, we have to go to the original location we stumbled upon more than a decade ago when we lived in Minnesota the first time.  This Space Aliens Bar and Grill is in St. Cloud, MN and just so happened to be right on our way to the cabin this past weekend.  We stopped in and enjoyed barbecue chicken baked potatoes and a gigantic ice cream sundae.  By getting the dessert, you get 25 tokens to play games while you wait for your food.  This place is a thousand times better than ChuckECheese, in bang for your buck and in taste!

After that, we took a quick trip to Crafts Direct.  This store is like Hobby Lobby on steroids.  I wish we weren't in the lower Southeast part of the twin cities.  If I lived over by my friend Jill, it would only be a 30 min drive to this store.  

My husband was complaining about stopping there, until he took his first step through the door.  Then I was following HIM from isle to isle.  He was more than amazed.  He didn't even complain when we left, at the time we spent there.

Determined not to spend too long, I only took just a couple pictures this year.  You can see last year's pics HERE.  I loved this saying.  Desperately wanting to get on some pallet crafts, this was perfect:

So many of my smiles begin with you

And this one... 

Everybody deserves somebody who makes them look forward to tomorrow

Awwww!

The kids were begging for these lighters.  There was a riffle and a fishing pole version for sale. 

How about this for a candy bar at your wedding:

Take a little, take a lot

Enjoy a Treat

we tied the knot!

Here are two different ideas for wedding centerpieces I thought were cute.  After last summer's wedding extravaganza, I had to take note.

The Fairy Garden section was adorable.  With fairy garden's a new obsession of mine and Emmalee's, we spent a long time looking over this area.  The little terrarium was cute.

I found the Red and Gold sashay thread I have been looking for.  My friend needs a red and gold scarf to wear while attending all her kid's games.  This roll has been on my shopping list forever.

We took off for Blackduck, MN after the craft store.  Apparently the craft store was so amazing Scott blew one lens clear off his sunglasses while driving.  That was fun.  I mostly enjoyed seeing him sit there like a pirate while he waited for me to find the other lens ;0}

Be glad I am not your spouse!

We finally made it to the cabin where so many aunts and uncles were waiting for us.  After a night full of card playing, Mads broke out her new book on arm knitting.  It took a while to figure it out {knitting has never been a favorite for me}.  But surprisingly, the arm version seems pretty fun!

Mad's had such success that she taught both the girl cousins how to make their own scarves.  She even bought some more yarn from the Ben Franklin up in Bemidji, MN to start a second one.

Don't ask me what is happening here...

But we took the rainy day as a chance to get into town and play around.

At the a-for mentioned Ben Franklin I saw even more things I had never seen before.  I don't go shopping often, cause I tend to spend every cent I have.  My remedy is to just stay home.  That means when we go on trips like this, my mind is blown in just about every store we go into ;0}

These are sippy cup and lunch box pieces for mason jars.  You just buy the lid or cup, put them in a mason jar, and there you go!  Fun in a jar.  So cute!

BF also had all these other jar accessories, 

And a complete line of glass paint.  I did NOT know that Mod Podge had glass paint!

Check out that rainbow of colors too!!!

Back at the cabin I caught my own frog.  I don't remember frogs being that pretty when I was a kid.  Maybe they have gotten fancier too!

Eli managed to cut two fingers, scrape one whole arm, run head-on into a volleyball net, pull his gluts, and pretty much lose the will to live over our short stay too.  He pulled through it all like a champion and lived to sit on the computer all day today, so don't feel too bad for him.

Lastly, I had to throw in a couple beach pictures.  Remember that lake beach pictures are nowhere as pretty as ocean beach pictures...but we had an awesome time on our one sunny day.

Those girls are paddle boarding.  I didn't know that existed either.  

Now, back to work!  Today I already spent hours of my day making this cover page for our youth trip to Nauvoo

Only 100 more pages to design by next week ;0}

I will be back soon with more photos from my recent shoots and hopefully a fun furniture re-do if I can get to it.  Have a great week!

Crazy Crafting Cousin's Weekend

WoWoot!  What a fun weekend I just had!  Don't even ask how I ended up in Utah this weekend.  It involved secret combinations on the part of my sister and daughter, only fed by Grandma and welcomed by our unsuspecting Las Vegas cousins.  You see, my sweet aunt invites me to all of the Sister's Crafting weekends her and her girls have.  When I lived in Phoenix it was a few short hours to drive up and join in the all night insanity.  WeLL...from Minnesota...Let's just say it is a bit more of a mind numbing commitment.  We left Wed. night at 6pm from Rosemount, MN, up near St. Paul.  I had two hours of sleep the night before after completing orders so I could go, plus I had just finished chaperoning a 7 hour kindergarten field trip.  You are totally right to assume I was NOT well rested.  

To prove exactly how insane I was, I let my 16 year old drive the two hours south to grandma's while I sat in the backseat and applied vinyl, packed boxes, and fixed shipping labels.  

We made it to Grandma's alive by some miracle, packed up the old lady ;0}, Auntie Kallie, and the cutest baby boy since my own Eli <3 p="">

Shortly after 9pm we were off like wild hogs after a ham bone....wait...that doesn't make sense.  OK, well our whole whirlwind trip didn't make sense either, so I will just go with it.  Yep, like wild hogs after a ham bone.

Anyway, with Las Vegas our end goal, we drove like wild until we hit Salt Lake City.  Having lived many a years in the Salt Lake Valley I had to take a pause there and mail some orders at a post office I knew, force fed the car chocolate covered chocolate doughnuts from the local gas stations, then we headed to Provo for even yummier sugary treats.  Crispy Creme was the most important stop.  I have missed those warm, glazed cakes of goodness.  We managed to arrive just in time to get the last warm samples.  With Crispy Creme closed down just about everywhere we have ever lived, there was no way we could resist buying a dozen.  

We tried a little reenactment photo.  About 12 years ago we were at this very store when Eli was about Sawyer's same age.  Kallie and Madison were both there to.  Goofy, I know.  Anyway, we couldn't resist the picture.  Delirium had totally set it.  We were about 20 hours into our trip at that point, only having slept stolen minutes in the car.  We pressed on though, to the BYU creamery and feasted on ice cream and fries.  Terrible, I know, but we had only minutes to enjoy the best Provo had to offer as we drove through town.  

As we pulled off the interstate at one of the rest stops I saw a road sign lying on the ground.  Kallie made me go back once we were gassed up so she could take the thing home.  Just for kicks and giggles I drove her over there and nearly died when I saw just how big it was from up close.  The thing was seriously bigger than my Tahoe...and then there were the poles.  After nearly wetting my pants watching Kallie try and lift the thing, I made her lay on the sign for a quick photo shoot before jumping back in the car to continue the drive.

Note to self....Road signs are much larger than they appear.

Our original plan was to stay in Las Vegas one night, then drive back up to St. George, Utah for our Cousins Crafting time.  Well, not long after that rest stop we pretty much gave up on Vegas.  With a baby tired of riding in the car...and her baby tired of driving too, we managed to get Aunti Patti to let us stay in the timeshare in Brianhead, near Parowan, Utah.  We were excited to not have to pay for a night in a hotel and even more excited for a bed to rest our weary heads, but then we burned up probably a whole tank of gas and a good hour or two driving up and down the mountain looking for the condo.  Finally we located the building and collapsed. 

End of day one.

Day two...Drive the 1.5 hours to St. George for some shopping!

We hit the outlet stores, Down East, Sketchers, Gymboree, etc, then traveled across the street to Tai Pan Trading!!!  Love that store!!!!!  This is one display at that store I wish were in my house.  So cute I can't even stand it!

We also had to hit DI, the Utah version of Goodwill.  The clothes were SO MUCH MORE AFFORDABLE!!!!  I refuse to shop at Goodwill or Savers in the Midwest.  The prices are nothing short of robbery.  DI was totally refreshing.  I stocked up on shorts for my boy {his one request}, a whole pile of summer dresses for Mads, and a bunch of women's shirts to make into summer dresses for Emmalee.  Wo-Woooo!  I am still so excited for our finds from DI.

We got checked into our hotel and hit the Cousin's Craftroom for a bit before being dragged out screaming to go to the hardware store.  You have heard of Ace Hardware, right?  I have one by me in Rosemount.  It smells like animals and paint.  Well...in St. George it looks like this!

And rows and rows of THIS!!!

Yep.  We went back a couple times over the next 24 hours.

Eventually we all got down to business.  Understand that there is no primping at the Cousin's Craft party.  Technically the event is called Sister's Weekend, but since my whole carload doesn't fit into that description, I have officially decided to change the name ;0}  

Welcome to the Crazy Cousin's Crafting Weekend.  It has to be crafting, cause I come in with projects while everyone else works on quilts.  Here is a bit of what I worked on...

I ruffled yards and yards of grey knit, then added it to a set of towels I had.

I ruffled yards and yards of black knit, then made one pillow with ruffled black edge, and then two pillows without fringe.

Saturday I worked on a set of pink ruffled curtains that I have yet to finish...

Sister Kallie made a whole pile of bandanna bibs and two pillowcase dresses...

He likes his bibs :0}

Good job Kallie!  

"Thanks.  I know"

Mads worked on some adorable dollies.  I will have to get better pics of those, but you can see the doll in the weird pic of Kallie just above here.  Grandma sewed a couple bibs and finished off a couple books.

Taffy Town taffy.  I always get a bag when we hit St. George.  A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

We also made a first-time visit to this amazing store, Urban Renewal, downtown St. George.  

AmAZing!

Like this work area...This is what my office and paint desk SHOULD look like!

Old windows and doors just lying around.

And how amazing is that bed!?!

I even debated about buying this number :0}  I loved every peely old thing in that store!

We packed up and started our drive back Saturday night around 9pm.  Grandma and I switched off driving.  Our goal was to hit Mt. Rushmore while it was still light out.  We made it!

I think my selfie skills need a little work.

Sisters.  Gotta love 'em!  We had a totally crazy trip, the best time ever and sorest tummy muscles from laughing.  I would do it all over again....I am just hoping we will take more than two days between deciding to go and leaving....and perhaps stay more time with the cousins than we spend driving :0D  But, whatever.  I would do it all again.  Trips like that keep your blood pumping, you know?