Progress, Luckily!

I'm really struggling to see progress lately.  Life pulls in so many directions it can be frustrating at times.  That is probably why I am so over-the-moon excited to have put off everything else tonight and 

got a few odds and ends taken care of.

For starters, I am feeling pretty lucky to have finally painted my "Lucky" sign I designed 4 years ago with my sweet friend Season.  I found it last summer traced on a piece of wood hiding in the garage.  I must have moved it 3 times in 3 different states over the last 4 years.  It was finally cut out this last fall on my scroll saw.  Since then I have moved it from pile to pile of unfinished projects optimistic that life would ease up and time would permit me to paint it.  

Trust me.  This hunk of wood is LUCKY it survived to see the paintbrush.  It will be fun to hang up next March, even if I missed using it this year ♡

Next up, and having waited even longer, moved even more times...my Never Enough Snowmen signs!  I have 2 of them I stumbled across at Christmas time and decided their day had finally come.  Then January was full of trauma and recovery, February was more trauma, a big trip, more trauma, and illness.  March was finally feeling better, crazy craft party, even crazier photo shoots to prep and pull off, followed by trauma and over a week without my husband and right arm (Madison) while they sat at Grandpa's bedside 1200 miles away.

Ahem, get the picture?  This is why I am so excited to have even started these projects!  With any luck, I will even get a couple finished 😄

I did get the lettering finished tonight!  I made a strip of vinyl to use as a stencil.  The white area was where the vinyl was.  I can't even tell you how EASY vinyl has made crafting!!!  I didn't have vinyl back 9 years ago when I cut thsee signs out.  My box would never have been so straight and the lettering would have totally stressed me out.  Instead, done...finally.  Now to get the snowmen on the sign completed!!!  

*fingers crossed*

This will be my new Mother's Day Door Decor.

Cut out this time last year, painted to the level of done-ness you see here.  Yesterday, between editing photos, I worked on the pattern so hopefully I can get it and others up for sale soon.

*more fingers crossed*

These are 2 of the 9 signs I got painted before dinner.  Mads and I are planning a little string art here...

Another fixer project moved from table to table...

I decided I don't like my letters by the front door on wires.  I started gluing them to ribbons and I love it!  They hang better AND store better.

If only I could find the "U" from my "LUCK" I would get that set on ribbon too.  

My garage is a disaster.  Maybe with temps finally above the 30s this week I can get out there...no fingers left to cross!

Fixed my first bunny.  He fell a couple of times during our craft party and I hate to just throw him away.  Now that his ear and foot have been glued back in place I hope to touch up paint and have him good as new.

Got my HAPPY BIRTHDAY frosting painted for my birthday cake door decor.  It is not a fun piece to cut or paint.  I think I finally figured out my paint colors, so hoping to finish the whole cake soon!  Yesterday I designed a party balloon door decor pattern.  I want to make a 3 piece party pattern set with the cake, a giant present, and the big balloons.  More...more...to do.

My most recent started and waiting project.  I finally figured out how I wanted to finish these guys and got the stencils made for the hash marks on the bottles.

After realizing how many unfinished projects I had to show you, I figured I'd better get SOMETHING finished!!!

DONE.

Ignore the scrap on the carpet!  I am posting entirely by phone tonight and have no idea how to crop that out, LOL!

Won't these be cute on the door welcoming baby home for the first time!?!

Well, I am off to bed.  Feel free to show me your projects you hope to finish one day.  I'd love to know I am not the only one 😀

If You Give A Mouse A Paintbrush...

I worked like a dog to get orders packed and shipped this morning so Madison and I could play this afternoon.   When playtime finally arrived, I started with one project hoping to get finished, only to run out of this or to have to drive someone there... At the end of my day there wasn't one finished project to show for the time, but a ton of fun was had!

The first project was to make three more of these scarecrow/snowman signs.  First the paint was touched up.  Next I reworked the vinyl faces, cut them and got them applied.  The painted noses were glued on and it was dinner time already.

The terrible thing is I wanted to paint my pile of new projects.  I didn't get that far...but I did get my turkey's legs and beak painted when I touched up my snowman noses.  Lol.  Some days I have to celebrate the small sucesses.

After dinner I glued some burlap around my no. 10 cans I use to hold my brushes and other junk, like glue sticks and my plyer collection.  I tried a couple of wooden shapes to be used as labels, but the pieces were all too small.  I have to cut bigger ones so that project will have to wait.

Last, I spent a couple hours working and reworking these three Cinderella pieces to fill Emmalee'S adorable metal frame I have for her room.  I finally got all the curls on the letters right where I wanted them, plugged the files into my Silhouette and hovered the whole time the machine cut.  I was totally excited to watch my design come to life.  Sadly, I have a busy weekend so these projects all have to hang for a while. 

It's OK though.  It has been such a long time since doing my own projects, I'm really just glad to have started   Have a great weekend.  I hope yours is full of fun, family, or creating!

Vanessa

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I {Hate} Faces :0(

My guys have been sitting on my counter for DAYS now, faceless.  For someone with a smiley face emoticon addiction like me, you would think I would have slapped a smile on these guys on day one.

***CAUTION- TOAD-ALLY BAD PHONE PICTURES AHEAD***

:0D

My toad-ally abused little toad...

My BOOtiful ghost

And ginormous Spidey...all blind with eyeball-less-ness!  Don't call wooden family services on me yet.  I am working on it, I promise.

I shall not actually admit to exactly how many minutes...at several different times during this extremely unproductive Monday I have stared, stirred around, and given up one again on this face.  

Do I like the nostrils???

No Nostrils?

Mouth higher...

lower...

smaller...

Stash them all!?!

Mama big lips...

Sister small eyes...

Honestly I like the mustache most of all.  

I {Hate} faces!!!  I hate being stumped too.  These guys have been sitting on my kitchen counter FOR ALMOST ONE WEEK.!!!   I will get them outfitted with eyes in the next 24 hours or I will turn them over to the crafter's humane society so they can at last live in a loving home <3 p="">

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?