Jill's-All about me!

Our 2010 Christmas Picture

I have to start with my roots. I'm a Kentucky girl. I bleed blue (University of Kentucky) all the way. I'm a proud alumni!

I love living in Georgia, but I will always be a Kentucky girl at heart.  I think Ashley Judd put it best, "Tough girls come from New York. Sweet girls, they're from Georgia. But us Kentucky girls, we have fire and ice in our blood. We can ride horses, be a debutante, throw left hooks, and drink with the boys, all the while making sweet tea, darlin'. And if we have an opinion, you know you're gonna hear it." We aren't southern or northern, we are just Kentuckians!

I married my high school sweetheart, Chris.  May of 2011 will mark our 10 year anniversary!  Chris is a wonderful husband and fantastic father.  I couldn't ask for a better man.   God blessed me with  my better half.  Chris is the Associate Minister at our church.  He works really hard to balance time in ministry and family time. (I don't have a picture of just the two of us.  The last time we had a picture made of just us was 10 years ago!)

I have three little blessings that call me Mom.  Ryan (4), Evan (2) and Anna (almost 6 months).  They are all 25 months apart. (We didn't plan it that way either). I never knew how happy and fulfilled having kids would make me.  My kids bring me so much joy, laughter and love.  I understand God's love for me more now with my own children than I ever did before.  Some people think I am crazy for having three kids, but I love it.  They keep me busy and are the best free entertainment!  After the kids go to bed at night, my husband and I just laugh at all the funny things they did that day.

Ryan

Evan

Anna

Our Family 2010

Before staying home with my kids, I was a Middle School teacher.  I loved teaching those sarcastic, hormonal teenagers!  It definitely takes a special breed to teach Middle school.  I say that I am retired for now, but I know I will eventually return to teaching.  It has been nice staying at home as it has given our family more flexibility to spend time together.


My days are busy.  I am shuttling Ryan to preschool, running errands, meeting up with friends, eventually getting the house clean and laundry completed, crafting, blogging, playing with the kids,  napping, making dinner, spending time with the hubby, and staying up late crafting some more!

My love of crafting started at a very young age.  My great-grandmother taught me to crochet at around 7 years old.  Unfortunately, she died when I was 12 and I lost my knowledge of how to crochet. During my senior year in college, I picked up a book on how to teach yourself to crochet and voila, I am back in the swing of it!  In addition to crocheting, I grew up doing cross stitch.  On our family vacations, my sister and I  would do cross stitch in the backseat as we drove to our destination.  

I didn't start sewing until I was married.  I asked for a sewing machine for my birthday and once again, I'm self-taught.  I cannot do a pattern for the life of me!  I think it is my self-diagnosed ADHD.  I just can't seem to follow the directions and do it just like the pattern wants me to.  Instead, I like to examine other products and try to figure out how to make it.  I do better at that.

I love to take every opportunity I have to learn new crafts.  About 6 months ago, Shannon told me about the Silhouette cutting machine.  Now, I am a Silhouette junky!  It is so nice to be able to cut any shape or font and make some beautiful creations.  I have lots of projects in the works to show you.

If you can't tell, crafting is my outlet.  I can't just sit still.  I have to be doing something.  After the kids go to bed, I am either working on the computer or crafting in some way.  It is my stress reliever!

I am looking forward to new craft adventures and all the friends we make along the way!

Shannon's-All About Me!

Our family Christmas 2010

Everytime I visit blogs, I wonder about the people who write them.  It's such a bonus when they have a little biography.  It puts a person with their "craft".  I like that.

Jill and I thought you may want to learn a little about us, so here goes.

I am a mother.  I have two beautiful daughters, Mariella (2) and GraciAnn (4).  They are the best thing I've ever done!

GraciAnn's a big sister!

One of my favorite pictures of the girls. 

I love to dress them in matching outfits! Mariella has the sunglasses too. They just wouldn't stay on her face.

Bath time!

Halloween 2010

Cocoa Beach 2010

I am a wife.  I have been married for seven years.  My husband, John, is truly my soulmate and my best friend.  He is a home remodeler and is very crafty himself.  He'd tell you that he's the best thing I've ever done and I guess he's kind of right.  Without him, I wouldn't have those girls.

My sweet husband, John

I am a daughter. My parents have always been my great support system and are the best Grandparents EVER!  Just ask my girls.

Our family picture 2009

I am a sister. I have a brother who is one of my best friends.  He was there when both of my girls were born. My daughters are his biggest fans!

Darren with the girls and me at GraciAnn's third birthday party.

Darren and GraciAnn November 2008.

I am a friend.  I have so many wonderful friends.  I am so lucky.  I know it! I always try to be the best friend I can be.  Unfortunately, I stay so busy with life, I don't always give my friends the attention they deserve.

My best friend from highschool, Robin

Robin's sister Mandy.  She's always been like a sister to me!

My dear friend, Amy

Jessica and Jayce, Jamie and Ryan, and Mariella and me!

***There are many dear friends I don't have pictures of on my computer.  That will change and I'll share them with you soon.  My friends are very important to me! ***

I am a stay at home mom and I have never been so busy or loved a job so much!

I am a teacher.  Right now my students are my children.  But, before I became a "Stay at Home Mom" I taught for fifteen years. One day, I'll be teaching others' children again.

I am one of the few "True Floridians".  I was born and raised in FL.  The first time I moved away was when I went to college for a year in North Carolina. I also spent 4 months of my senior year of college doing an internship in England. My home base was FL until 7 years ago when my husband got a promotion to the Atlanta area. He said we would be here for three years.  Ha!  I don't see us going anywhere anytime soon.  I'm okay with that.  I like having seasons, none of which are too harsh.  I like my friends, most of which I met through my children.  I like my daughter's school.  I like our doctors.  It's a great place. I left my family and many friends in FL.  I miss them.  I like that I can drive and see them in a day.  I wish we were closer; but, I'm pretty positive I never want to live in Florida again. It's hot!

I am a crafter.  Or at least I try to be.  This blog is a place for me to share all my creative crafting, copy crafting, and craft fails that are sure to happen. I haven't always been crafty.  I guess it all started when a friend of mine got me into stamping about 15 years ago.  My stamping came to a screeching hault when I got married and had kids.  Thanks to my crafty friends and supportive husband, I'm back in it and I'm doing my best!

I am eager to share my ideas, get ideas from others, and form new friendships in blogland!

What Can You Make With $1 Frame?

You know how Target has their $1 section?  I found a $1 frame.  It was plain white. It needed bling.  With a little effort, I have something I think is adorable!

I took the frame and hot glued dotted ribbon around each section.  I gave the ribbon some extra oomph by making little humps in it. I did this by putting a dot of hot glue on the frame and making a lump in the ribbon before I glued a piece down.  I love how it made it look a little ruffled.  I finished each mini frame off with a little bow.  So cute!  I only wish I bought more frames!  What a great gift and it was so easy.  I LOVE 30 minute craft projects.  I don't come across them often.

Cloches from our Christmas giveaways

Shannon and I have been swamped with crafting since Christmas.  Our goal this last week is to finish up on all the remaining handmade and personalized items from our 12 days of Christmas giveaways.

My first items to finish up were two adorable cloches.  Andrea S was the winner of our crocheted headband with a flower.  She liked the cloche I had made for Anna for awhile and when she won she asked if she could upgrade to the cloche.  I was happy to oblige.  Andrea wanted a white cloche with a navy flower. Here is the cloche I made for Andrea's sweet Genevieve.  I have included a picture of her wearing it as well.  I am glad she likes it.  Aren't her little pigtails just precious?

The other cloche was won by Jessica C.  She doesn't have a little girl, but she has a friend who is having one soon.  She wanted to win it for her as a baby shower gift.  What a great friend to enter a giveaway to give a personalized gift!  Jessica choose to shades of pink and wanted the size to be larger so the little girl could wear it next winter.

I think it turned out very pretty!  I hope the new mom will like it as well.

I have some excited news to share with you in addition to these pretty cloches.  We are opening an online store in the coming weeks with many of our handmade items!  Personalized cloches are just one item you could purchase.  If there is something you have seen us make that you would like us to make available in our store, please leave us a comment or send us an email.

We look forward to making special personalized items in the future!

We've Reached Over 100 Facebook Friends-so...we're doing a special giveaway!

We promised our followers, we'd have surprise giveaways, so here we go... Visit us on FB, leave a comment, and you could win these adorable clippies!

A Baby Gift-A Baby Food Jar Cake-A Tutorial

I have made many diaper cakes for baby showers I've hosted and attended.  They are great decorations, are fun, and better yet, very practical!  Our friend was having her second baby. Because she was having another boy, we decided to throw her a themed shower. A "food" theme was selected. So, we focused on all things to do with feeding babies.

I wanted to make her a special gift.  She is a very special friend. I decided to make a baby food jar cake.

I needed a round cake board. You can buy these anywhere. I picked these up at WalMart in a 5 pack.  I bought 24 jars of baby food. I had a glue gun, a plastic wrapping bag, and ribbon.

I arranged 14 jars into a circle and hot glued them to the cake board.

I glued 7 more jars on top of the first layer.

Here's a top down view.

I glued the final three jars on top of the second layer.

Another view from the top.

Here's the plastic wrapping bag I used.  I put the entire baby jar cake in it.

I then tied a big blue bow on it and added a pack of spoons for a little extra touch.

This was a fun twist on a traditional item.  The mother to be loved it!

In case you missed it!

I have two things I wanted to share with you! 

First,  we had a hiccup with out email subscription on Tuesday and two posts didn't make it to you!  Thankfully, it is fixed now, but we don't want you to miss out on what was made.  Shannon gave the recipe for her Easy, safe, not messy, homemade playdough. 

This stuff is amazing!  It smells so good as it is made with koolaid and it is super soft!

Plus, Shannon showed off her Birthday Treat Buckets.

 These were a huge hit with all the kids at Mariella's brithday party.  Go check these two posts out!  I didn't want you to miss out on them!

Second, you might have noticed a new row of pictures at the top of our blog.  I added this so you could see the last 6 to 8 items we worked on.  Click on any picture to be taken to that post.  Hopefully, this will help you as you navigate our blog as well.

Thank you to all our new followers!  We are honored that you are part of our new blog family!

Making a Memo Board-A Tutorial

This is the board, I made for my older daughter's room. 

I started with a canvas, like a painter would use.  I had batting, fabric, fabric scissors, a needle and thread, ribbon, buttons, and a loaded staple gun.

I cut the batting to size and stapled it on the canvas.

I then wrapped the covered canvas with the fabric.  I stapled it to the wooden part of the canvas.

I laid out the ribbon and stapled it to the wooden part of the canvas. (The staple gun got a workout.)

I took a coordinating fabric and covered buttons with it.  I bought these buttons at Walmart but I think you can find them at almost all craft stores. They really help put the finishing touches on a project.

I cut strips of ribbon to make bows at the places the ribbon intersected. I made the bows by looping and sewing so the dotted ribbon would show.

I sewed the bows down.  The makes a little indention in the board to give it a "puckered" effect.

I then sewed a button in the center of each ribbon.

This is the finished board.  GraciAnn loves it.  It's a great place for her to hang things she wants to display without hurting her walls. It looks fantastic on her light pink walls and was a simple project to make!