I'm thinking

This is just going to be a three months out of the year kind of blog.  I really enjoy blogging to share my crafty creations, however I rarely have time or energy to blog during the school year.  And if I do have free time I usually spend it doing nothing because I am so worn out!  Anyway...  These last couple of weeks have been crazy.  This is (BY FAR) the worst school year I have had yet.  I really need to find a better school closer to home... Despite the stress, I have found time to make a few Pinterest inspired Christmas crafts/gifts.  Here are some ornaments I made for my team using floor wax, fine glitter and vinyl cut using my Cricut:

 I  have a few more things that I made as gifts that I am going to post after Christmas.  I'm really excited about them.  I think everything turned out super cute!  I'm even going to the store tomorrow to pick up a few supplies to do some last minute gifts just because I'm feeling super crafty.  I've been done with my gifts for a few weeks now, but I just can't stop.  Thanks a lot Pinterest! 

Pinterest... It's a love/hate relationship

So, I've had a Pinterest account for a while now.  But, I just recently became addicted.  I can't stop pinning!!!  I've mainly been obsessed with school related pins.  It has really motivated me to get back into my classroom (this is very good because I have to go back to work this FRIDAY).   I've found all sorts of amazing things I need to try out for this school year.  However, I can't stop pinning to actually get things done!

I did find some time to try out this cute gift I am going to give to my team that was inspired by Nothing But Country. 

And I made these awesome scratch off reward tickets using things I already had around the house!

And I've even made a few shirts... like this one:

Hopefully I will get some work done in my classroom this week and I can show more of the projects I hope to do!

Chocolate Chip Cheese Ball

I've had several friends ask me for this recipe recently, so I thought this would be a good place to share it with everyone.  Several years back my family put all their favorite recipes together and created a family cookbook.  This little book has seriously become my cooking bible (this along with all my wonderful Pioneer Woman Recipes).  This is a sweet dip that is great for parties or other get together.  I usually serve it with teddy grahams because they are the perfect size and they wont break when you dip them.

Ingredients:
1 - 8oz pk softened cream cheese
1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup mini choc chips
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts

Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Mix in powdered sugar, brown sugar and vanilla. Stir in chocolate chips. Cover and chill in the fridge for 2 hours. Shape it into a ball. Wrap with plastic wrap and chill for another hour. Roll the cheese ball in finely chopped nuts before serving.

Little Girl's Dress

This past week I made what might have been the easiest garment ever!  I just bought one of those cheap dollar patterns to make a dress for the same friend's little girl to wear on her first day of school next week.  I had it done in no time.  I even added some embellishments to make it super cute.  It probably cost less than $5 to make and I still have material left over!

Nap Mat

I am so proud of myself for my latest creation.  Thanks to Jenny Garland I was able to make a nap mat for a friends daughter.  She is starting pre-k this year.  The directions were very easy to follow and I had it done in no time.  I know nothing about nap mats, but I thought the buttons and carrying strap were genius.  LOL!  Here are a few pics of the completed mat!

8 Gallons of Paint

I haven't had as much time to blog as I had originally planned.  I've been very busy around the house.  I spent 3 days and 8 gallons of paint to address an issue I've had with the color that has graced almost every wall downstairs.  I affectionately call it "cardboard".  Don't get me wrong it isn't a terrible color.  I might even like it in certain situations.  But, I felt like there was soooooo much of it and it really was such a dark color that it made our house feel very cave like.  It was practically the same color as our floors.  I decided that I wanted gray walls.  I have a blue and green theme throughout the house and I thought gray would be a nice neutral....  After spending about a month seriously debating on the exact shade (not too dark but not too blue/purple or beige) I finally commited to Sharkey Gray and got 5 gallons of that crap!  I later came to regret that decision.  By the end of that day our house went from this:

To this:

And I absolutely hated how it looked against our floors.  It was the WORST around our fireplace.  It looks sooo blue and UGLY to me.  But, it looked amazing in our dining room...  I spent about 24 hours staring at it constantly telling Diddles how much I hated it and showing him new paint options.  We even had friends over during that 24 hour period and they said it looked fine.  Now I know who my true friends are because they straight up lied to me! haha!  So, the very next day I went out picked up a green and blue paint chip (the colors of our dining room and kitchen) along with a floor sample that was similar to ours.  I went to the light beige section and spent about 10 minutes before commiting to a light neutral shade.  This time I only purchased 3 gallons (just in case).  I had the entire downstairs repainted by the end of that day.  And I can't believe I'm going to say this..... But...... I LOVE MY BEIGE WALLS!  Never in my life have I ever liked neutrals.  However, with the floors, raised paneling details, fireplace, windows and all the other colors in our house I think it looks great!  Diddles seems to think I just repainted it the same cardboard color.  But, If you look below you can see that there is a BIG difference.

 Below you will see some during and after pics!

During

During

After



Copy Cat

It's been a while since I last blogged.... sue me!  I hardly have any time or energy during the school year to get anything else done.  But, one one of our first days of summer Diddles made me this laundry basket shelf I have been wanting for months!  We have a good sized laundry room and there has always been a big empty section and I really wanted a shelf of some kind to store stuff in.  We have cabinets above the washer and dryer, but they aren't tall/deep enough for some of the things I needed to tuck away.  I added a shower curtain rod above this little nook to hang clothes to try and what not.  I think this is the perfect piece to use to store pool towels and such.  I originally had a vision of nice green or blue laundry baskets and a white shelf....  HOWEVER, I could only find white laundry baskets and the only paint color we already had enough of was this lovely blue from our bathroom at our previous house. I don't have any during pictures.  But here is what we ended up with at the end of the day (try to ignore the excessive amount of hangers that are waiting to be returned to the cleaners)...

And just to prove that I'm not being lazy and just sitting around on my bum...  I have been working on numerous shirts - like this one: