ANOTHER mess!

So Little S turned 3 on Friday!  She doesn't know yet though!  We're doing her party on Saturday, so we'll treat that as her real birthday too.  We're also moving around some stuff downstairs.  My sister in law is moving upstairs so we have more room downstairs since we'll be staying longer so I'm moving my "office" out of the corner of the living room into the actual office!  AND it all has to be done before the party so there is room for all the 3 year olds!  And during today's shower this is what I found!  She opened 2 glass jars of my beads and spilled them EVERYWHERE!

There were beads from the bathroom to the back door and through 3 rooms and a hall.  But the beads weren't the biggest mess.  THAT was the spilled Mod Podge all over the wall, table, scripture case, self healing mat, storage box, carpet, poster board etc...

It looks crazy blue on this black case with the flash!  Funny... I made the mistake of trying to clean it up.  I should have just waited until it was dry and peeled it up!  I did have to toss some stuff, but not everything, and I was able to clean most stuff.  The cut mat is looking rough though.  It's wiped off, but there is a sheen in certain area's and it's a bit tacky? in some areas.

Book pages wreath

I've been loving all the new craft blogs I've discovered and started following.  What great ideas and inspiration.  I have no idea who started this!  But it's all over the place!  So easy too, especially since I had everything I needed at my fingertips!


Book?  Check.  I had this old dictionary lying around.  Really with the internet who needs a dictionary?  AnywayI used my black stamp ink pad I blacked the outside edges. 

Hanger?  Check.  This was actually a surprise because I hate these wire hangers and thought I threw them all away.  I'll have to remember to hang onto a few because I have a few other craft projects that need wire hangers.


I was looking at the many different wreaths.  Folded paper, accordion style paper and rolled paper.  I decided I liked the rolled style the best.  So I start by rolling each page...


Then I fold up the bottom.  One to keep the point from getting in the way on the other side, but also to thicken up the base of the roll to keep it secure on the wire and keep the pages from sliding around on the wire wreath.


Stick the hanger though the papers.  I actually used a paperclip to start a hole, but a thumb tack would work well too.  I have a blister on the tip of my pointer finger from pushing the paperclip through the 6 layers of paper!


Slide  it around to the other side.  Keep going until...


You get back around to the other side.  Re-hook the hanger closed and then I bent down the hook so it didn't stick out above the paper rolls.


Finally hang it on the wall!  Back to my same old same old problem.  My lack of space in our half of my in-law's basement!  But I found an empty wall.  It's not the best place, simply because I can't see the wall, it's around the corner from the main living room, but it's up.  Someday I'll once again have my own space and can find a great place for it.  Most walls have low hanging vents from the heating system and I didn't want to risk hanging it low enough for my kids to destroy it.  It would take them less than a second I think!  Luckily I still have about half the dictionary left, so I can either make a gift for someone or fix mine if my kids find a way to reach it!  Anyway, I LOVE it!

Newest project supplies!

So I've had this project in mind for almost a year now.  I've been slowly collecting the supplies.  One of the reasons it hasn't gone quicker is because I haven't had my sewing machine unpacked (or room for it) so there really wasn't a point.  But last week I rearranged my "corner" to include a small table so I can sew!  So here are the supplies:  Some wire curtain hangers and hooks.

And 4 different fabric options (one for each kid).  I also got the thread!  I'm SO excited to get started! Now I just need to clean off the new table so I can put the sewing machine on it (the second it got put up a bunch of junk got placed on it!)

So where is this fabric going to go?  We're living with my in-laws right now and all four kids are in the same bedroom.  And it's sometimes hard to find some alone time.  So the plan is to make curtains for each kids' bed!  Here is the boys bunk (their actually sleeping in them right now, that's why the blankets are in bunches!).

The girl's beds...  I'm not sure where the youngest is?  I think she rolled over onto the beanbag.  Anyway..  I wanted matching curtains, but I figured it was better for the kids if I let them pick out their own.  So in the end good mommy won over OCD-matching-alphabetizing mommy.  Yeah for me!  Now if only the rest of the day had gone as well!

ANOTHER blog!!!

That's what my husband will say when he hears about this.  I have my (private) family blog, my EXTENDED family blog (that no one updates so I might just cancel it) and then my cake blog.  We've moved every year for the last 9 years with another move on the horizon for this summer. Once we get settled in this next move we should be there for 5-6 years.  So I'll be ramping up my cakes to a full blown business!  I'm excited for that and LOVE making cakes.  At the same time I just LOVE crafts, and while the cakes are a great outlet I enjoy all sorts of other crafts as well.  I like to keep myself occupied (not that I'm not busy with 4 kids).  I tend to get on kicks and focus on one kind of craft style for weeks/months at a time, and then switch to something else.  My husband lost his job in June and in July we moved into his parent's basement.  We're very lucky that they were generous to let us live there.  But we moved from a 3600 sq/ft house to 2 bedrooms in a 50 year old house.  All 6 of us!  I didn't mind squeezing into the 2 rooms but the loss of MY room (not bedroom, my office/craft room) was hard.  SO I claimed a corner of the downstairs living room.  Here is what it looks like!

All of those boxes are different crafts supplies and stuff.  Actually 1/3+ is cake stuff, 3 boxes are crocheting (yarn takes up a lot of space) and the rest are each different craft stuff.  So far my crafts/talents/supplies include:
Cake decorating pans/supplies/tools/airbrush
Cookie cutters and cupcake stuff
Crochet supplies tools
Kids crafting stuff
Stamps
Scrapbooking paper/stuff (not much, since I don't scrapbook, it's just for other crafts, like baby announcements etc...)
Paints and supplies
Dremel and bits
Party supplies
Cross stitching
Pictures/albums and negatives
Sewing machine, fabric and thread
Xyron machine
and finally Misc...
And here is my desk and computer