Just Make Stuff

We have a new recruit...

We food truck-ed tonight for dinner. Sean met us after his school's open house so Mac and I got an early start with the Bacon Mania truck...then he did not agree that a Dogzilla dog is the best thing ever (I'd been eagerly waiting over two months to have one again)...but he loved the Lime Truck's amazing pork tacos just as much as Sean and I do. 

So yesterday a little scrapbooking, today was good food, and tomorrow we'll be at the beach for a couple of hours....feeling super grateful that I have gotten some good break time during this spring break.

Now we're talking...

I mentioned yesterday that my spring break isn't terribly break-ish. Well until today when I took a couple of hours to scrapbook...

They were all pretty simple, but they're the last three memories from 2010 that were waiting to be made into a a little something.

Which means they went into here...

And a completed album went into the bookcase downstairs.

Having this book done makes this week a very good break.

Well Wishes...

Ten on Tuesday...

1. Like so many others, our NCAA brackets were annihilated. But Sean's was a little more decimated than mine...which makes me the winner. 

2. I mentioned at the beginning of the month that I was excited to attend the meeting to plan out the rest of my grad school curriculum. It's all done with a printed contract and everything.

3. And then I changed my mind. I was completely settled on the idea of taking comp exams to complete the program.  Then I learned more about doing a project. I feel kind of foolish changing, but I know this is a much better fit for me.

4. Sean went to Costco on Sunday afternoon...when he got home he announced I had to close my eyes since he picked me up a surprise...

5. He knew I had wanted one forever, but large magnetic ones are often expensive...this was $20.

6. Hanging it required some rearranging...which makes it the gift that keeps on giving.

7. So far the wall next to my desk is looking like this...

8. Which means I need more cute prints to hang up, right?

9. Good thing I have about 30 saved in my Etsy favorites.

10. Technically this is my spring break from school. I say "technically" because I'm still buried in schoolwork. However there are a few more hours in this week and I think we might use them to track down a couple more food trucks.

The things we keep...

So just a few days ago I was talking about cleaning things out...which has always been something I love to do. I'm pretty decisive...I usually know what I'm going to use in the future and what has seen it's day. However there are always a few things that keep me guessing. 

Wire is one of those things. Oh did I happily collect it after seeing Becky Higgin's book about ten years ago. That book changed scrapbooking for me. I gazed through the pages amazed by the possibilities. Fibers and tags...wire and buttons...the new possibilities seemed endless. But being the "always love a trend" scrapbooker that I am, I moved on from all of that to the next new thing. But I kept the wire...it just struck me as something that might come in handy later...not that I've ever really used it. 

Until late Friday night when I needed to make a little something to tie to a first birthday gift. The party's theme was ladybugs so a little Internet search brought up paper piecing to craft up.  That means I absolutely needed the ten-year-old hot pink wire for the antennas...

Good thing it was there waiting for me all this time.

Starred...

1. Ribbon Line Up, 2. Daisy and Roses Bobbies, 3. Kitchen, 4. MyFavoriteThings, 5. summer 10 wire[explored], 6. wrapped for love..., 7. happy to be square, 8. ribbons

This week's favorites...

• Some great layouts this week...I have to try my hand at a tag background like this layout and I loved all the patterns here.
• Love, love, love the digital heart patterns here for such a good cause.
• Kid stuff...I really want to make these for my nieces and newphew...and how cute would these blocks be as a shower gift?
• Lots of party inspiration here.
• Super cute wreath...I want to try to make those flowers.
• How cool is this frame?
• When I need another hobby it might be cross-stitching.
• And finally...peanut butter chocolate sauce...the end.

{Starred is a post every Saturday that includes recent Flickr Favorites and the blog entries I've saved (with a star) in my Google Reader}

It worked...

(Have to have a photo so here's the first rose of the year growing in our yard after last night's rain.)

Thankfully the survey presentation was a success...good thing I worked hard to prepare for it by randomly cleaning things out around here. Thanks so much for your good thoughts and especially for sharing that reorganizing is a procrastination technique for you too.

The giveaway goes to...

Comment #35

Amanda said...trust!  March 25, 2011 at 11:11 AM

Amanda please e-mail your address and it'll be out in the mail early next week.

Not that I have photos...

What should you be doing when you have a big group project to present later tonight? Just a little reorganizing in your craft room.

It really helps you better prepare for the heaps of Sociology you'll need to sound intelligent about.

It also means that there's the next edition of Blog Garage Sale boxes available...and there is a Girl's Paperie giveaway too. 

However in my eagerness to get this all packed up I didn't take photos of any of it. So I had to use recycled photos for the stamps and I guess you'll just have to trust me on the giveaway.

So assuming we have that level of trust established in our blog writer & reader relationship, please feel free to leave a comment and I'll do a random drawing tomorrow night.

I know better...

There they were...on the end-cap at Target. I've walked past them before because I know better. I am powerless to them and will eat the entire bag in a day.

But this week I lost the battle and they jumped into the cart. 

On the bright side the bag lasted two days...two really good days. I was down to just a few this afternoon...took a photo...and ate them.

Darn you Cadbury Mini Eggs. 

Well Wishes...

Ten on Tuesday...

1. I love weather. Rain and cold? Yes, please! A Thunderstorm? Yes, please!

2. A thunderstorm at 4:30am? Um, no thanks. Cable internet and phone going out because a half inch of rain fell? No, thank you.

3. My mom teases me anytime I refuse an offer with my usual, "Oh no thank you, but thank you though". She just doesn't realize how she taught me to be extra polite.

4. Speaking of thank you's, writing a little stack of thank you notes this past weekend made me very happy. I have always loved sending out mail.

5. One of them was a new favorite card I quickly made since I needed a masculine thank you note (but it's a lot like this card from last year)...

6. In order to make it you need woodgrain cardstock, twine, tag punch, a corner rounder, brown mist and a tree mask.

7. On Thursday evening Sean will be living a dream when he gets to see Duke play in person at the Sweet 16.

8. At the same time I will be living a nightmare when I stand up in front of my class and present a group project that includes a lengthy survey we created.

9. The reason it will be a nightmare is because the intention of the exercise is to point out all the errors we made in front of everyone so we can learn from them.

10. Grad school level scrutiny of my mistakes? Oh no thank you, but thank you though.

Now I can share...

My sister's birthday has been celebrated so I can share the gift wrapping I alluded to last Tuesday...

Early last week she and I had an overall gift giving strategy discussion and I learned, since she's an avid Nordstrom's Rack deal finder, she would like a gift card. And although we all love getting gift cards, my mother's aversion to gift card giving has seeped into our family which meant I wanted to try to cuten it up. "Cuten" is a word, right? 

So I went out to the cake decorating store my sister first took me to a couple of years ago. I figured a little stack of polkadot and striped cupcake liners could help make a gift card look more fun. I even bought an extra pack to make a gift bow. Okay, okay it was a few extra packs...they had too many cute patterns there.

  

I definitely need to work on my finesse when it comes to these cupcake liner bow creations, but it worked.

There was then a bit of a last minute birthday cake scramble that included running to a local bakery to grab an un-frosted angel food cake since that was all they had, making a quick batch of chocolate frosting, and then there was the big decision on how to decorate it.

Mac and I dug into the random collection of cupcake picks I've accumulated over the years. One baby boy and two girls to symbolize her children...flags for all the various motor sports type stuff she likes...a lemon because she likes lemons...happy birthday of course...and a pink flamingo. Why? Just because I had one. Oh and three candles on top for "thirty" and two on the bottom for "two" somehow equaled 32 in our minds.

Mac and I pretty much thought we were awesome...we laughed all the way there thinking about how clever we were. 

And she was politely amused.

Starred...

1. Aqua Spring, 2. 1898 Eastern Hemisphere and Liberty of London, 3. Monte glider , 4. Some good old 50's, 5. Untitled, 6. Art Collection, 7. cute kitchen counter, 8. etsy art on wall

What I found this week...

• The coloring pages here make me want to get out a pack of crayons.
• I know this photo has made the Tumblr and Pinterest rounds, but I have to try it one day.
• Really loved these projects.
• I'll need this as a reference when I pack for my round the world trip...a girl can dream. 
• Loved seeing all this painted furniture...and getting good painting tips from here.
• This is another good reason to save cans.
• What a cute gift these hangers would be.
• Wishing for a basement now.
• I want to sew these bags for Easter.
• This outer space party made me wish I could still throw theme-y parties for my teenager.
• Here are great ideas for any birthday party.
• Carrots I want to try...and muffins Mac would love.
• I talked about these cupcakes a couple of times this past week and it's a great recipe that I'll use again and again.

{Starred is a post every Saturday that includes recent Flickr Favorites and the blog entries I've saved (with a star) in my Google Reader}

Top 'O the Morning to Ya...

Got an extra early start this morning thanks to a little leprechan named Ryan Seacrest blasting through on Mac's alarm clock radio. The only problem was McIntosh was still at his Dad's house so I had to go stumbling down the hall to shut the darn thing off.

But it gave me time to get a couple of photos of him wearing his Target dollar spot shamrock tie before he went off the school. 

And I had a green cupcake for breakfast so all is well.

Just in time...

I decorated our mantle yesterday just in time for St. Patrick's Day tomorrow...

I printed an 8x10 version of this (and changed the greens slightly)...

The wreath is from when I decorated the mantle last spring...

And I made shamrocks just like these...

I also made Mac a special snack for school and will be baking green cupcakes tonight...

Looking forward to celebrating a wee bit with tomorrow's dinner before I have to head off to class for the night. 

Well Wishes...

Ten on Tuesday...

1. I made a "centerpiece" for St Patrick's Day...

2. It was because the 5lb bag of potatoes from this weekend's grocery trip had to go somewhere. 

3. In related news, Mac will get the Irish baked potato dinner he requested.

4. I'm also going to attempt making these green cupcakes for dessert...and bring them to share with my research methods class that night.

5. I would like to show you the way I'm wrapping my sister's birthday gift, but she reads this thing. I'll have to share next week after she opens it.

6.  The bracket is officially on my desk and I need to fill it out in a way that will kick Sean's basketball-loving rear...any suggestions?

7. There were a few years in a row that I beat him handedly an this bracket business (even though I know all of three things about college basketball) and I would really like that luck skill to return since it's been awhile since I gloated over anything.

8. Tomorrow's Well Wishes has been made with the leftovers from this weekend's scrapbooking. 

9. On a serious note I had a blog reader, whose daughter lives in Japan, e-mail me this afternoon asking to have me remind everyone to be thinking, praying for and hopefully donating to the recovery efforts in Japan. 

10. I have been purposely avoiding the news since eathquakes are a major source of anxiety for me, but her e-mail was a good reminder to make a donation and I hope, if you can, you will too.

I kept my word...

I said this past weekend that I was going to start using all those color combinations that I love saving. 

The first one is from here...

And one more from here...

Even though I really had no business taking the time, it helped me remember that scrapbooking can make me really happy.

You can see larger photos of the layouts here.

Starred...

1. Untitled, 2. Flowers, Soustons, France, 3. my baby..., 4. kitchen, 5. my urban casita, 6. the vintage drawer i turned into a flower pot, 7. The study, 8. Globe Collection

This week...

• I realized I am officially addicted to color combo inspiration...I saved six of them...#1  #2  #3  #4  #5  #6 Mark my words I'm using one of these next week.
• I would like one of everything in this post please...but most especially that tape dispenser.
• Can I make a banner this cute by Thursday?
• Loved this party...super cute invites too.
• These pennants are perfect... the wooden bead at the top is my favorite part.
• Not a lot of recipes this week, but what more do you need than meatballs stuffed with cheese?

{Starred is a post every Saturday that includes recent Flickr Favorites and the blog entries I've saved (with a star) in my Google Reader}

It's the little things...

Recently I used a Groupon for a local beauty supply store to get some nail polish (see I told you I really love Groupons) ...

(California Coral; Soiree Mauve; No Pre-nup)

Since Sean was picking Mac up from school today and my class for tonight was cancelled I took one of these colors, grabbed my stack of magazines and went to get a pedicure.  It was just one of several things that made me very happy today.

The others were...

McIntosh eagerly asking what I have planned for next week's St. Patrick's Day dinner...he's voting for baked potatoes.

While I was standing in line at the post office to send off Etsy orders I checked my e-mail and discovered more orders we're just coming in.

Filing away the 100+ pages of Sociological articles that I've read for class this past week.  

Finding super cute new digital patterns.

And did I mention that I didn't have to go to class tonight? 

Well Wishes...

Ten on Tuesday...

1. We have beach packing down to a science...

2. Grab the basket...pack some snacks into the lunch bag...water bottles...sun hat...little camera...book/magazines...and a travel case of wet-ones.

3. It's probably strange that I have a fourteen year old yet still keep a stash of wet-ones...but they're just so darn handy.

4. Sprinkles is on the way home from the beach.

5. That's how we ended up with these...

6. I finished up nine weeks of Couch to 5K last Friday. I can "run" for 30 minutes although it's more like a steady crawl. So I restarted the program yesterday, this time faster.  My current goal is to reach a pace where I no longer feel the need to constantly be putting quotation marks around the word "run".

7. It's probably not a coincidence that I immediately started talking about "running" right after that photo of delicious cupcakes.

8. I have three school assignments to complete today...so I'm trying really hard to ignore the persistent headache I've been battling the last few days.

9. This blog is much more fun when I'm actually making stuff instead of just writing papers.

10. At least there's Well Wishes tomorrow (and it's using my new favorite clover color).

Spring Break-ish...

My actual break from school doesn't come until the end of this month. Sean's spring break is the week after mine and Mac has to wait until the week after Easter all the way at the end of April. Three different breaks isn't exactly ideal, but a lot of people don't get any break so I'm not complaining. Although if I think about all the reading and papers I'll have to do anyway when I'm on "break" I might whine just a little bit.

I had nothing to complain about though this weekend as we went on a break for a few hours...

 

 

Most of the time I'm not all that enamoured with our California living, usually I think actual seasons would be a lot more fun.

Sitting at a beach on a warm day during the first weekend in March is pretty darn fun though...

Like I said, I have no complaints.

Starred...

1. Untitled, 2. Untitled, 3. To Savor, 4. Love Note #3, 5. Untitled, 6. villa augustus flowerday, 7. Pillow Swap - A little bird detail, 8. IMG_2802

Just a few things from this week...

• I have to try to make flowers like this.
• This post makes me want to scour thrift stores...really love those clogs.
• The cutest little notebooks.
• For some reason this week was about popcorn...a bunch of recipes here...and this one looks way too good

{Starred is a post every Saturday that includes recent Flickr Favorites and the blog entries I've saved (with a star) in my Google Reader}

On the inside...

This box is my Etsy shop...it's where all the Well Wishes card kits and other items are stored just waiting to be shipped off to someone's house.

The box was getting a little too full so I reorganized it and made some grab bags of older items...

Each bag includes at least a couple of card kits and numerous other favorite supplies...just a few are available.

Well Wishes...

Ten on Tuesday...

1. I had a little too much fun with a date stamp when I was prepping my organizer for March...

2. Speaking of organizing, they gave our graduate cohort permission to go have our meetings to create the rest of our study plan. I'm really looking forward to planning out the next 15 months of my life.

3. I'm even more excited to think that I only have 15 months of school left to finish.

4. Yesterday when I was pulling out of the driveway to pick Mac up from school the mailman was at our next door neighbor's house. When I got home I saw he'd left a notice since I was supposed to sign for a package. I kind of chased him down in our neighborhood so that I could get this bag from him.

5. Now that I've had my longed-for grilled cheese, I'm onto dreaming about a Banana Cream Pie we saw on Best Thing I Ever Ate.

6. I mentioned that we used a can of paint around here last month (rumor has it that's it's color #37). It's a subtle gray on a couple of walls in the living & dining rooms...

7. Sean came home with a pedometer yesterday. Apparently the teachers at his school are having a contest to see who moves the most in 30 days. I'm thinking the guy who runs around a hundred miles a month has a decent chance of winning.

8. Ironically I took the Lord's name in vain several times tonight while taking an online test for my Sociology of Religion class.

9. I finally ordered our albums for 2011...our family album is green...Mac's is blue. Those American Crafts binders seem to be increasingly difficult to find, but they're here at a great price.

10. Tonight we had stoup for dinner. For some reason it's really fun to say, "stoup".