The Power of Imagination

My sister and I did this whole back and forth thing the other day about the purpose and usefulness of Pinterest.  In a nutshell: I love Pinterest, she does not.  For me, it sparks my creativity...even if that creativity is me copying someone else's pin/project.

Here are some pictures of recent projects I've done--their inspirations immediately follow.

This was pretty time consuming, but worth it...just this once.  I probably wouldn't make it again.  My cousin's son (3 years?) loved it.  Though, he loved playing with it more than eating it.

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I had this great idea to create more cabinet space by moving my spices to tins with magnets on my fridge.  Slight problem...the containers I bought online are WAY to small.  So now I have spices in two places.  :(  I will say, however, that doing it this way (diy) will save you TONS of money.

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This also did not turn out as well as I had hoped, but all in all, I'm glad we did it.  As you can see, the hubs didn't take into consideration the lips on the black measuring cups, but I'm not going to complain...he did what I didn't want to do.  The woman who's website I visited mentioned in the post about her going out right away to buy plastic measuring cups and spoons because she couldn't handle the racket the metal ones made.  I am here to testify...it is incredibly loud and scares the bejeezus outta me most every time I open that cabinet!!  In that open space above her cups she put a really neat conversion graphic.  I'm not that fancy.

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Oddly enough, I could not find cinnamon sticks in bulk in our sleepy town to do this project.  My sister was gracious enough to send me a bag and voila!  I have these beauties to show off.  So simple, festive, and CHEAP!

 

Source unknown

I might try twigs next.

This is something that I'd like to think I came up with on my own, but I probably saw it on tv or something.  I had a bunch of glass frames (from a project I was going to do and never started) so I just picked leaves from the yard, pressed them, and then framed them.  My husband was nice enough to hang them for me.  *Round of applause!*  Again, simple, festive, & cheap!!

This is one of the hurricanes we have left over from our wedding and I just poured hazelnuts from last year into it.  I previously had candy corn in it for Halloween.  (see below)

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 That's it for now.  I hope you enjoyed this little walk through craftyland.

Cinnamon sticks anyone?

My friends and coworkers all know I'm a huge Pinterest fan.  While on Pinterest I saw a great idea to tie cinnamon sticks around candles (my hope is that it'd smell really yummy).  View Exhibit A.  Apparently no one in my town sells cinnamon sticks in bulk but I heard Dollar General might sell them.  Which brings me to the point of this post.

I'm messing around on the Dollar General website and look under Household, then Home Decor, then Home Accents.  Ya know what pops up??  I laughed.  An ashtray!!  And it's the only thing under Home Accents too.  I guess that is one kind of home accent.  I thought it was so funny.  Almost as funny as this.  

A welcome retreat

Sunday afternoon I headed over to my coworker's house to do a little scrapbooking.  I had so much fun!  For one, it was the first time I'd ever sat down to scrapbook (I've had the stuff for years, just didn't know how to start) and second, it was absolutely wonderful to hang out with a peer and craft.  It was incredibly relaxing and just really good to socialize in a way that didn't involve my husband, a bar, or alcohol.  Sometimes it's just plain good to have some 'me' time. 

I'm not sure I've said anything about this here but my advisor gave me some deadlines...June 30th for a completed Results section and July 31st for a completed Discussion section.  *Side-note:  I've been thinking about moving from blogspot for a while now.  This might convince me--blogspot is saying I misspelled 'advisor'*  So I didn't meet the June 30th deadline but I'm so much further along than I was originally that I'll be okay with that.  As Dory would say, "Just keep swimming swimming swimming." 

After a recommendation from a friend, I purchased Turbo Fire.  Heard of Insanity or P90X?  It's basically another one of those programs.  It's killing me because I thought it would be here Saturday and it wasn't.  Thought it would be here today and it wasn't.  If it's not here tomorrow I'm going to rip my hair out.  I was thinking about documenting my journey with Turbo Fire with pictures and my thoughts in a blog--seems like I'd stick with it and would be able to see my progress better.  I'm tempted to create a new password protected one with just my bout with Turbo Fire, but I'm beginning to think I should just document it in this blog & password protect it here--I've been thinking about doing that for a while anyway.

At any rate, those are my three thoughts for today.  Have a good one!

Empowerment

Anybody read any good books about female empowerment/finding oneself? 

C took over my running endeavor since my ankle injury and now I feel like I need to find a 'thing'.  Right now my list consists of swimming and gardening.  Ultimately I think it's probably that I'd just like to belong to a group outside of anything I do with my husband.  Guess I'll need to do some networking. 

Visit my Pages!

Don't forget to check out my other Pages I post to: 

• All Things Food where I blog about recipes I make whether or not I ultimately like them
• Books, Books, & More Books where my "expert" opinion on books I read are jotted down
• Crafty Things where my current & finished projects are outlined
• Playing in the Soil will be seasonal due to my lack of fall/winter gardening skills
• Run Like Hell where I am documenting my progress in my hobby: running

Scrapbooking

I've wanted to "learn" how to scrapbook for a while now.  Years I'd say.  I subscribed to a couple of scrapbooking blogs, but quickly removed them from my feed when I was inundated with posts.  Luck of the draw I guess.

I also subscribed to a series of 24(?) scrapbooking lesson emails.  I've received 9 so far and haven't read a single one.

I've made progress though...I picked out pictures from our vacation in Florida and even saved them on a flash drive so they can be printed.  Let me tell you...that's a huge step.  I haven't had pictures printed out since my trip to Belize...at least five years ago.

I even pulled out a scrapbooking kit I purchased years ago.  And much to my surprise & excitement, I have also apparently acquired several more scrapbooking supplies--enough that I feel I have the resources I need to create an acceptable first scrapbook.

So I say to my husband, "You need to ask *a certain coworker* if she belongs to any scrapbooking groups."  And his reply is:  Why would we ask her?  It's not like someone can teach you how to scrapbook.

What?!  Which led me to this epiphany:  with everything I do, there are steps.  There are certain things that precede other things and a certain way things are done.  Scrapbooking is no different in my eyes.  And I need to learn those steps before I can conquer that which is scrapbooking.  My husband politely & kindly informed me I'm crazy.  

So maybe I can muster up enough creativity to make a scrapbook.  Wish me luck!

Xyron vs. Cricut

Sadly, my favorite thing to do right now is update my Amazon wishlist.  I use it as a reminder of what I'd like if I ever decide to buy anything for myself.  Particularly books.  If I don't write a title down (or in my case, add it to my Amazon wishlist) I don't remember it.  And then I have things on there like Vibram shoes.  Realistic?  Not so much.

At any rate, I somehow got routed around to the Xyron ($380) and Cricut ($103) "personal cutting machines".  Somebody should of thought twice before using that phrase. 

Xyron Wishblade

Cricut

 

At any rate, here are the main differences I've been able to learn in a short time:

Xyron - initially more expensive, connects to your computer for designs, not all that portable
Cricut - less expensive initially, uses cartridges at $80-$90 a pop (yowza!), very portable

So I'm thinking, "Well darnit!  Which one am I going to put on my wishlist?!" 

My decision??  Perhaps I should start scrapbooking or paper crafting first.  ;oD

String of thoughts

I got a guy kicked out of my place of work today.  Pretty stoked about it.  I knew he had been coming in without a membership or guest pass, but was finally able to catch him today.  I'm a stickler for rules.

Have lots planned tomorrow including shopping for fridge part 2.

My friend posted pics of her baby nursery she just finished.  Looks straight out of a magazine.  Pretty cool! 

I used to really want an awesome kitchen...now I think I'd be satisfied with a craft room.  Maybe it's time to do some Fall organizing.  I'm to the point where I'm even saving old clothes with the idea that I'll tear them up and crochet a rag rug.  Hm.  Wonder if that'll ever happen!!

Watched the season premieres of Biggest Loser yesterday & Grey's this evening.  I'm still amazed I get a kick out of BL because I know it's a crap show.  Grey's, however, I still love.  The season finale was cah-ray-zy!  I think I might actually go & rewatch it. 

On to the thesis...my deadline for "something" is today.

My winnings

The purse (& pouch) from Miss Prickly came in the mail yesterday.  It came in a homemade envelope; love that.  It's super cute...I've really got to sign up for a sewing class or two.  Oh the things I could make!  I'd have all kinds of bags...and my husband would be thrilled!  ;o)  You can find other things made by her at her Etsy shop.

Oh the things one can do with oatmeal boxes

My feeble attempts at home organization. I just covered an empty oatmeal box with tissue paper & stuck a label on it. Now to see if it does the trick...

Coupon organizer in the mail

So I broke down and bought a custom made coupon organizer like the one with which I fell in love. I'm still in love. I would give my left arm to be able to do this. Well, maybe not my arm, but I'd definitely shave my head. Check out iSew's etsy shop. Here are the pics: