My Puppies

Ava In her stunna shades

Ava is ever so patient when I am taking pictures of her

Matt is Her Favorite

Juno HATES having her picture taken

So I always have to ninja in on her.

But she's such a sweet girl

TheHubby's Quilt

For Christmas, I got a BUNCH of quilting/sewing supplies from the In-Laws, and It was awesome!  So the first thing I ask TheHubby is: Do you want a quilt?  The response?:  Umm...YES! Please!  A Red-White-and-Blue one.  You know, An America Quilt!

So I have been diligently working and slaving away on this quilt for the past 3 months. AND!  It is finally coming together!

I had this piece complete for about 2 weeks before I finally had time to work on it again

This past week I had 3 days off, so I knocked most of it out

All that is left? 

The border

The Batting

The Backing

And the Quilting.

So Quite a bit. Haha

I did start on the border, and Ava decided that she wanted to "help"

She would "Hold" the fabric, and when I nudged her, she would stand up, so I could reposition it, and then lay back down.

She's such a goober.  Updates to come soon!

Updated: 3/31


I got the backing, and the batting complete!

Oh Sweet Victory!

I am currently working on the quilting.  I have 6 of the 35 squares completed.
That is what happens when you make a quilt for the Barrick Men.  Especially when TheHubby is 6ft6in.

Pics to come in the not TOO distant future. 
AKA: Tomorrow or Monday

UPDATE:
Clearly by tomorrow or Monday I meant, 11 months later.  DUH!

So I finished the quilt around May...and here we are....the following February...

I also didn't take a pic of the finished product...lovely But it was pretty epic.  7 feet by 5.5 feet.

Christmas Ornament Wreath

During the holiday season, we LOVE to decorate, so I was in the market for a fun Christmas Wreath, since we actually HAD an outside door in a NOT sketchy neighborhood!

I saw this wreath and though that was a great idea

It was, but it was noisy, I couldn't get it to stop banging every time I opened/closed the door.

I liked the way it looked and it was easy and unique, but I don't know that I will hang it up this year, if I can't figure out a way to make it quieter.

As I *Literally just now, as I'm writing this in March* read her blog, I found out that her frame is permanently glued or otherwise attached to her door.

Original idea from bluecricketdesign.net

You're Full of Crafts

Here are some links that I have received inspiration from.

And, Gasp, Some projects that I have actually finished!




Mason Jar Bathroom Organizer



Picture Frame Jewelry Holder


Picture Frame Christmas Wreath

TheHubby's Quilt (Still working on it)

Flower and Herb Garden
Fan-tastic



One of my favorite Blogs is One Good Thing by Jillee  she has lots of neat how-to's.  It is more around-the house, rather that crafts, but it has a lot of "make-your-own".  Which I love, and have actually done quite a few of

Another I follow is Do It Yourself Divas.  The Name Says it all: Do It Yourself.  From making your own furniture to clothing, these Divas do it all

Fancy Frugal Life, another blog that has many great DIY crafts on a budget! (Which is fantastic, since crafting can get expensive)

The Painted Hive has decorating tips and diy crafts for decorating your Hive

Photography

This was taken from my phone on the Ohio River
In photoshop, I added a layer, then applied "Linear Burn"

Here are some pictures that I have taken, and some tutorials I have found to be fantastic!

Puppy Pics!  This is my first attempt at photoshop.  Not fantastic, but not too shabby either.

Life on the Farm (Coming soon!)





The Pioneer Woman  She has great tutorials and tips on composition.

31 Days to a Better Photo   This blog is great!  It has helped me so much.  Not only understanding the terms, but also on how to apply them to take great pictures

Picture Frame Jewelry Holder

Jewelry: 

I love it, but I DO NOT love organizing it.  It seems, unless you toss it into a box, it always looks like a jumbled pile.  Of course when you DO toss it into the box, It IS a jumbled pile.

So I scoured the internet (aka: Pinterest) and found an idea to staple wire or chikenwire (in some posts) to the back of a painted picture frame and you can hang your earrings off it it.  I used big chicken wire (which I got at Lowes for like $2 and two frames I got at goodwill for like $5) since I was also going to hang necklaces from it.  If you have a lot of stud earrings, I would use a smalled mesh.

It was super easy.  The hardest part was cutting the wire.,  I spray painted the frames and the wire, and stapled it to the back of the frame.

Voila

The necklaces aren't exactly neat, but they are untangled and off of my dresser.

Original idea found at kevinandamada.com



Mason Jar Bathroom Organizer

Here is one craft that, NOT ONLY, did I find on Pinterest, BUT ALSO (!) Completed!!!

Our bathroom is deceptively small, with deceptively little counter and cabinet space, and with two people, we have had to make do with shelving and baskets. While those are nice, they are hard to keep looking nice, (especially after a hectic week of getting ready for work quietly and in the dark) 

SideBar:

I'm pretty sure that when I'm alone, I am like Pocahontas slinking through the woods,

but when I'm trying not to wake TheHubby,

I am like a precariously perched pile of pots and pans.  Everything I touch gets slammed down and everything I look at falls to the floor.

Redirect: 

So I found this like *on Pinterest of course* and I thought: Hey I can make that!

It was harder than it should have been, but the main issue was drilling a hole through the pipe clamps.  I mistakenly started out trying to drill through both the pipe clamp and the board.  Which proved too much resistance.  Finally I clamped the two ends of it down, with nothing behind it, and was able to get enough downward pressure to punch through.  Once I got one, the other two were a breeze

The original idea from lovelylittledetails.com

Fan-tastic!

We have recently found out that there is only one vent in our bedroom and office.  This didn't become an issue until now, because as hot air rises, and these rooms are on the second floor, and we moved in in the fall,  we didn't notice that our upstairs doesn't get much air circulating. 

As Summer has reared its ugly head, and temperatures have been in the high 80s-90s the past few weeks, we have realized that our upstairs becomes a steam room.

In our desperation, we decided that a ceiling fan would work perfectly to meet our needs.

Off to Lowes we ran, as fans were on sale that weekend, and we bought one for the office, as it will soon become a nursery

The note on the box said: One person could install it in less than 45 minutes. 

Well that was only true if the person had 2 sets of hands, and was a licensed electrician.

It wasn't hard, on the contrary, it was surprisingly easy, the directions walked you right through it, it just takes a while as you are learning what to do.

The fan we got comes with a remote control, which almost turned out to be harder than the actual fan installation.  But we FINALLY got it all put together, and flipped the switch....

Nothing happened.

We stood there looking at it, as if we could will it to move.

We laughed nervously

THEN we remembered the remote!

We pressed the light button

Little did we know that there is a 2-3 second delay

It FINALLY turned on, and the fan turned on as well.

IT IS AMAZING!!!

It cooled the room down almost immediately!

It was so AWESOME, we promptly went out and bought another fan for our bedroom.

This one went quicker, as we learned from our mistakes. 

HOWEVER...

The bedroom one wobbles...

So I did the balancing kit, and stuck the adhesive weight on it and it voila!  Magic.

Well...

Until about 3am.  I got up to get a drink of water, and here a crash bang.  I looked around, and realized, by the now, viciously wobbling fan that the weight had flown off.  I turned the fan down and went back to bed

The next day, I stuck the other weight back on the fan, and it worked!  Again!

For about 10 minutes.  Then it too flew off.

Hmm.  What to do, what to do...

<<Light bulb>>

I'll super glue it!

Well that time, the adhesive stuck on but the actual weight flew off

Hmm...What to do, what to do...

Super glue and duct tape.  If that doesn't hold it nothing will.

We are on day 4 with no incidents! 

And both of us are sleeping like babies!