Crafty Crafter

I have got bitten by something. I haven't quite figured out what it is, but here are the symptoms; strong urge to sew, find and cook new recipes, go to the craft stores and find projects to do, and clean out closets and drawers that haven't seen the light of day for a year. I even did some salsa canning with the tomatoes out of our garden for the first time this summer.

Am I becoming domesticated?? I have know idea why it has taken this long to hit. I have been married for almost 3 years now and have never had these urges, ever.

When I met Jay I had been living the single live of a college girl for years. I moved out on my own at the age of 21 which was at the time really "old" to still be living at home. Now I look back and think how smart I must have been to "freeload" as my dad called it, off of my parents for that long! Not that the freeloading stopped there but moving out did bring on many more responsibilities than I had ever known at the time.

So back then I knew how to cook ramen, mac n cheese, fish sticks and maybe some rice a roni on a good day. I had to learn how to do laundry a few years before but I made it a good portion of my life not knowing how to do laundry. My dad got to learn that lesson back when I lived with him around the age of 18 and neither of us knew how to do laundry so I gave it a whirl and turned every one of his lovely white garments PINK.

To say the least, I have come a very long way. I certainly know how to do laundry and I can cook a full homemade meal and it even tastes good. I do bake some, but in all honesty my husband is the true baker in our house and he actually enjoys doing it, so of course I let him cook on every occasion possible. Just because I said I can cook and do laundry doesn't mean that I have to lllllllove doing it.

So I acted on some of these urges and here are some of my little projects. Just keep in mind that this is a first for me so they are not at the super crafter status, but you have got to start somewhere, right?

So I had this wall that has been blank for as long as I have lived here. Its the kind of wall that is too big to put something small on it, but too small to put something big on it. Does that even make sense, no it doesn't but it was my excuse to leave it blank for this long. This was such an easy and cheap project. Only tools needed: Scrapbook paper, a back to stick it on(wood, cardboard, canvas, or foam board would work) mod podge/brush to apply, I used some old vinyl lettering that I found in one of the drawers I cleaned out. I also used some brown paint to paint the edges just to add a little effect. Simple, easy, cheap and pretty darn cute if I do say so myself.

This one is using the same techniques as above, just added some ribbon for a different look. This one was kind of a practice and when I got done I realized it is the exact colors I already have in my kitchen, so I stuck it in there.

For Christmas I asked for a sewing machine, a real SEWING MACHINE! So I decided to put this baby to work. Before this I had used a sewing machine one other time when I made a baby blanket for Brylee.

This time I had the help of my mother in law. The pattern was made by "sewing for dummies" so I figured that it was a good place to start. I packed up my new sewing machine and took it over to her house. She showed me how to do an apron from start to finish, then the very next day I went and bought enough material for two more. I was sewing up a storm and couldn't believe it! I gave all 3 away and didn't take any pictures, but then I remembered I did take this one picture on my cell phone to send to my mother in law of my proud work. So here it is.....

A few months ago I decided to turn my blog into a book. I have heard of people doing it so I decided to give it a try. Since I am not a scrapbooker it was the perfect solution. It was pretty simple and you can actually add pages in as you go that didn't make it to your blog.

I just googled "how to turn your blog into a book" and Blurb.com came up, and that is the program I used. It was simple to follow and the book is nice quality as well. I think it was about $30 which I thought was a steal considering I will now have a journal type book that I can show my children someday. It actually did take quite a few hours to put together, but I am a perfectionist so it probably took me a little longer, still worth it. It turned out really cute, and I will definitely do it again.

Here was another wall that needed some TLC. The mirror had been hanging there all by itself since we moved here and I felt it needed a little something, so of course you can never go wrong with vinyl in my opinion and then just got some old frames and added ribbon to them. Easy easy easy. So I know some of you out here are so so creative and can come up with this stuff in your sleep, but for me it doesn't work like that. I hope this is the beginning of lots and lots of crafts and projects because I found out that I actually enjoyed doing it. I would love to get more ideas so if anyone knows any fun ideas, blogs or websites please let me know!