Art Supply outlet, say WHAT??!!

Yesterday Cheeky Green and I went on a quest, a quest to find the allusive "THE OUTLET"!  I'd heard stories but wondered if it was all an urban legend...  Well, after 3 hours of driving in a 2 mile radius of where we had eaten breakfast, the shaggin' waggon was out of gas (except when we went up a hill then the tank said it was 1/2 full... never trust a 17 year old Volvo with something to prove!).  We chugged into a gas station in the FANCY town of EGR - just ask them, they'll tell you!  They're a town full of fancy folk so be careful outsiders!  Anywhooo... Cheeky ran in to the station while I pumped the old gal full of gas.  Being the "GREEN" girl that she is, she didn't buy that map, oh no, she just stole a peek!  Back on the road, and within moments we were arriving in the toe of the ghetto.

We stopped off at Mahogany's Island of Beauty.

Cheeky got a weave.

Saw this cool folk art house

and then.... there it was, sun shining down on it from Heaven:

THE OUTLET!! (right across from Lee Auto- not to be confused with Lee's Auto-duh!).

Here's Cheeky with her goods.  Yes her mouth is open, she couldn't keep it shut long enough for me to get the picture!  I have no time for those quiet shy gals with nothin' to say!  When my friends and I are together, I like to think 9,437 stories are started and not a 1 is ever finished!

All the ladies shopping at THE OUTLET learned a valuable lesson today:

Some of my goodies:

wooden cherries for my cutie-cupcakes and some "doll" pegs.

.45 cents each!!

Elsie Flannigan

Claudine Hellmuth sticky canvas- anyone used this?  I don't know what to do with it, but you know I had to have it!  It's usually 12.99, they had it for $5.75 and 40% off that!  HELLO!!

some fun papers.

All their scrapbooking supplies are already at least 1/2 off and then they were another 40% off, so it was super cheap!!

I also got a whole set of crochet hooks so tiny you crochet thread with them... don't even ask me why!  WHY? Because they were $2, that's why!

And here's a little update on my kitchen remodel... 

The tile is the last part to be finished... well, the all new stainless appliances I'm dreaming of with be the last, but I still am working on that... :)

The 1st row is almost up.

the mess is makin' this girl a little crazier than usual...

IF you squint your eyes, you can kinda imagine what it will look like when it's done!

The mister has to go around SEVEN outlets!  So funny because I'm use to living in OLD, OLD houses where you're lucky to have 7 outlets in the whole house!

After these are all in place he'll get those glass tile accents put in... so excited to have this done and my kitchen back in order so I can (NOT) cook in it!

Film Festival in Saugatuck, Michigan this weekend!!

http://www.waterfrontfilm.org/

It's a tradition we do every year... so fun!  I'll try to get a lot of pictures- last year I took 1 of the Mister going into an porta-potty...I have NO idea why!

Are you doing anything FUN this weekend?  I hope so!

See you next week...if I'm out of the fetal position.  Darlings last day of school is today and the thought of entertaining an only child all summer is somewhat of a daunting task to say the least.  But then again, my friend- G.P. mama who has 5 gets the trophy (and the medal and the crown!!).

and...

a little plug about my BABY HAT DRIVE 

As most of you know, my daughter was adopted from China and I left a little piece of my heart there.  I'm collecting hats to keep the children and babies warm in the winter.  Many live in orphanages that are without heat.

1. make a baby hat, toddler hat, or kid sized hat (you can take the non-crafty way out and buy one if you must)

2. email me at: chinamommy_04@yahoo.com for my address.

3. I'll take care of shipping them to CHINA next fall.

any questions- please feel free to email me!!

Today it was all about ME!

I went shopping with a new pal and guess what I found...

A new Max Studio dress!

and who loves turquoise AND stripes??...

 does this make the deal sweeter, or what?

$5.99!!
and even though it was kinda all about me, i know it is really about my darling too, so she got this cutie:

Hope you had a good day!
I'm going junkin' and health store shoppin in the morning!

Will this be the day?

I REALLY hope I can get down to my studio/junk yard today!

I've been to the dentist all ready and am all done with my invisalign braces... now 3 months of these BULKY plastic retainers.  

Here's a little tour of my life in pictures, some insight as to why I have STARTED (but not finished) a skirt, afghan, 4 hats, 4 hair bows, a chandelier, mini terrarium, a baptism album, a book, and a variety of other items!
1st off I can't keep my eyes out of this eye-candy!!

I think it's insane that this cost $10, but I knew I had to have it!
Aren't magazines suppose to be $6?  I get sucked in by those $15 Somerset Magazines too!!
I'm not saying they aren't worth it, it's just the fact that
I WANT THEM ALL!

Darling and I are trying to talk the Mister into doing a little backyard construction...
The perfect place for reading and crocheting!

Presentations, presentation, presentation!!!

 of course, I'm swooning over all this turquoise!
I'm in the midst of reading this book:

I'm loving it!!
I want to make everything in this book:

anyone ever worked with that silver clay??  That's my NEXT project!

One thing I don't like... seeing all these wonderful projects but having no idea where to find some of the same items.  If anyone knows where I can find these hollow glass beads, please, let me know!

Organizing all my cricut cartridges in this cool red leather bag!

Working on this for Darling... Of course, now I don't like the cover, so I'm going to re-do that...

Another Cutie~Cupcake in the works...

Now you may have noticed a bit of "stuff" around my projects...
Just look at this insanity but please, don't call A&E to put me on HOARDERS!

Do you know of Helen Dardik?
YOU SHOULD!
http://orangeyoulucky.blogspot.com/

I want to BE Helen!

I LOVE her style, I'm quite sure she's my favorite illustrator!

Next time you see my, I MIGHT be sporting a wiener dog headband!!
Well, that's what I do: read and look and dream of all the wonderful projects I want to do!  My problem- I have SO many ideas I can't settle down to get anything done!
Hope you get something done today... I'm going to try!

It's Monday and I have no fancy title...

It seems like it's been a long time since I've posted...

With the end of school coming the 11th I've made more of an appearance at the school.  Acting like I'm one of the parents that is fully participating.  We've had the class picnic, field day, and an open house at Darlings new school.

Field day was actually a LOT of fun...

Poor little thing and her tiny legs!  Look how much taller those girls are.  Don't worry, I don't let her give me the sad story, I've always been SUPER short too.

the "long" jump or better yet, just "the jump".

It's been busier than usual for us.  I don't know people with 3+ kids do it, really, I don't!

Saturday morning we went to a really trashy auction that was to raise $ for a local VA, OH girls, how I would have LOVED to take pictures of the "customers"!  I don't know about you, but I have a hard time approaching a woman with 4 teeth and a coon skin cap and asking for her picture.

Darling got an awesome piano keyboard that has some ghetto DJ feature and the keys say "dude", "get up", "oooooh yeahhhh" (in a total porno voice) and a variety of other fun, yet annoying words and sounds.  The Mister got a smoker and a yard tool thingy that puts holes in the yard and spreads grass seeds... Heck, I don't know what you do with either of those things.  I got to hold an Amish baby that was a twin... it was free and the most fun part of the auction!  Just so you know, there is nothing more or less interesting about an Amish baby, it's just a regular baby.  I know how you people that don't live around Amish are all star struck by them!

That night we went downtown for our Festival of the Arts celebration.  I LOVE these things, I love how the freaks (and I say that in the most loving way!!) come out of the woodwork! 

Don't be jealous of our sexy ladies in their TWILIGHT t-shirts!

The Mister said next year he's just taking a lawn chair and will be people watching all day!

Lets just say Darling was in rare form!

The sun was WAY too hot, the sunscreen hurt, her foot was broken, the crowd was too crowded, her legs hurt, there were rocks in her flip flops... Oh boy, don't you LOVE when you try to do something fun with your kid and they have NOTHING good to say??  Well, we had a little "Come to Jesus" chat and some food and then things started to turn around!

they had sculpture making for kids and now this beauty is on my mantel!

a pin-wheel (made at the art museum) is not a bad way to end the day when you're 6!

and the best way to end the day...

2 nights of going to bed at 7:30 can't hurt either!

Hope you had a great weekend!

I have laundry to do and groceries to get and a post office run (thanks to a sale in my etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/papercutsarecute/). 

 I hope I have tomorrow to work on my crochet and my chandelier...

Happy day friends!

and...

a little plug about my BABY HAT DRIVE 

As most of you know, my daughter was adopted from China and I left a little piece of my heart there.  I'm collecting hats to keep the children and babies warm in the winter.  Many live in orphanages that are without heat.

1. make a baby hat, toddler hat, or kid sized hat (you can take the non-crafty way out and buy one if you must)

2. email me at: chinamommy_04@yahoo.com for my address.

3. I'll take care of shipping them to CHINA next fall.

any questions- please feel free to email me!!

Crochet skirts!!

I have some images from my childhood that are burnt into my memory... the time we went camping in a pimp van, and my 6'1" dad slept down the middle of the floor while my mom drove around the campground so she could run the A/C at 3 in the morning... the time we went to a 7-11in California and saw a microwave for the 1st time... the time I smashed my finger in the hatchback of a Pinto... but perhaps one of the most memorable memories is a pair of baby blue crochet pants.  I'm happy to report that I was NOT the one wearing them, nor was anyone in my family.  My best friend and I were in girl scouts, it was an eclectic bunch to say the least (and be the nicest).  I don't want to be cruel, so I'll go easy on my story.  Our leader, though wonderfully nice, really was quite tacky.  We made quilts of old polyester pants, no lie!  One evening as we were wrapping up another night in the moldy basement of the local library, our moms started filing in to pick us up.  Now, we had 2 of the sweetest girls ever in our troop, sisters in fact, and they were 2 of the 3 kids from a local family.  Let's just leave it at - they were the family everyone in town knew, perhaps missing a couple sandwiches from their picnic, if you know what i'm sayin'?!... So their mom shows up and is sporting some BABY BLUE crocheted pants.  Now remember gals, I was born in 1969 and was in 5th grade at this time- WAY before Madonna, Brittany and Christina were shakin' their money makers and showin everyone what their Mama gave 'em.  Sooooo, when this Mom shows up in her baby blue's and her big ol' white granny panty's are showing between the stitches, I thought I was gonna DIE!  That mental picture is stamped so strongly in my brain it's like it was yesterday!  The granny pantie's scarred me and that's why I will only be wearing a thong under my crocheted skirt when I pick Darling up from social activities!!

This is from: Stitch'n Bitch Crochet The Happy Hooker  by Debbie Stoller.

When I saw this skirt, "Violet Beauregard" by Heather Dixon;  I knew I HAD to make it!!  

When she mentioned it was only the 3rd project she had attempted, I KNEW I could do it too!

I started searching for this exact yarn, but wasn't having any luck.  It's cotton and I could only find these colors in acrylic....Ewww!  I'm somewhat of a fiber snob- the thought of wearing a plastic/acrylic skirt gave me the creeps!

I found some cotton yarn at Hobby Lobby, not the exact colors, which makes me sad, but if you know me at all, you know I want to dive straight in and am not going to look for months.

I know it looks black in my picture, but the main part of the skirt is going to be deep plum.

The accent colors are the light plum and lavender.

Last night I got the 1st round down, which was a beast!  I know, I know... my life is so hard working on this skirt... but speaking crochet, it WAS a rough round.  Now that I have that 1st row, the rest will go easy (thankfully, because I probably would just give up if it was all that hard, sad, but true.).

THEN, I got online to check out the "Crochet Today" site (cause I'm officially a crochet nerd!).

http://www.crochettoday.com/patterns/

Oh, who is in ❤LOVE❤ with this "Boardwalk Skirt?!?

So now I am stalking Joann's till the magazine comes in!!  The Mister was nice enough to sign me up for 2 years of this magazine, after I sold him on the benefits of subscribing instead of paying rack price for magazines!!

Any other crochet or knit geeks out there? (and I say that in the NICEST way possible!)  I'd love to hear what you're working on!!

I haven't forgotten about the chandelier, but this is the week before the last week of school and it's full of game days and picnics and field days and stuff that cuts into my craft time, so... it's in the studio and it's being worked on, but, of course, it's not done...

Happy Day gals! and don't forget....

a little plug about my BABY HAT DRIVE 

As most of you know, my daughter was adopted from China and I left a little piece of my heart there.  I'm collecting hats to keep the children and babies warm in the winter.  Many live in orphanages that are without heat.

1. make a baby hat, toddler hat, or kid sized hat (you can take the non-crafty way out and buy one if you must)

2. email me at: chinamommy_04@yahoo.com for my address.

3. I'll take care of shipping them to CHINA next fall.

any questions- please feel free to email me!!

Getin' my craft on...

 I've felt like CRAP for days, thanks to the cottonwood trees shedding their fluffy goodness all over West Michigan!  This stuff is EVERYWHERE and at times, literally looks like it's snowing.

Yesterday I was at the dentist in the morning havin' a little work done.  I got the "buttons" off my teeth, those are the little bumps that made my invisalign braces work.  She got them off by grinding them off... Yumm, I had that delicious burnt tooth smell/taste in my mouth all day!  I had molds made for my retainers, that was especially fun because my nose is ornamental only!  I get very little air in this honker on a good day let alone after a week of insane pollen counts.  Yes, I did drool, thank you for asking!

I came home, set the timer on the stove and slept until it was time to get Darling from the bus stop.

Today... much better!

I'm hoping I can finish some of my started projects:

The Chandelier (from Brassy Apple)

So far, I only have a few of them gems added....

I really hope to finish this today...

Here's a sneak peak at another project I'm working on...

(Owls Mel!!)

I also made a teeny tiny terrarium!

I need to craft it up a bit...

Want to know how to make your own??

It's an easy one, super kid friendly (as long as they don't eat the charcoal!)

1. get a jar with a lid (you can make open terrarium's also, but I had this cute little jar)

2. cover the bottom with pebbles or sand

3. layer the pebbles with charcoal bits - you can find these at any garden center, it will keep the stink out!

4. layer in some spaghnum moss (oops, I forgot this in mine)

5. potting soil

6. moss

7. mist with some water

With a closed terrarium, you DO need to open the lid at some point to get some air moving.

I just pulled up a little piece of moss from our yard.  If you want some REALLY good directions check this guy out:

 Terrarium Man!!

http://www.stormthecastle.com/terrarium/index.htm/

His site is FULL of all kinds of ideas and advice!

Did I mention while working on my chandelier and terrarium, I'm also crocheting a skirt?!

Yes, I AM nuts!

I'll be back tomorrow with to show you whats up with THE SKIRT!!

Have a great day and don't forget...

a little plug about my BABY HAT DRIVE 

As most of you know, my daughter was adopted from China and I left a little piece of my heart there.  I'm collecting hats to keep the children and babies warm in the winter.  Many live in orphanages that are without heat.

1. make a baby hat, toddler hat, or kid sized hat (you can take the non-crafty way out and buy one if you must)

2. email me at: chinamommy_04@yahoo.com for my address.

3. I'll take care of shipping them to CHINA next fall.

any questions- please feel free to email me!!

I'm back in black...

I feel like I need to recap since I've been gone so long, but in truth, nothing interesting happened.

Friday, Darling & I went to see Shrek 3-D, it was good.

Saturday.... I'm literally sitting here thinking what DID we do Saturday?!  Ummm, I remember Costco and getting pictures developed and begging the Mister for ANOTHER new pair of glasses because they have Betesy Johnson frames and they are TOO CUTE!  

Oh wait then there was the Avocado burger... Oh yeah- the boat!!  Ok, it's all coming back to me now!  We went to see friends that have a boat over on Lake Michigan!

The weather was gorgeous and we had a great time!

Yes, that IS the sparkle star boob suit!  

Then we did the family picnic that we do once a month with the Mister's family on Sunday.

Monday we took Darling for a bike ride on the paved path.  She just learned to ride a 2 wheel bike so the paved path is a good place to practice.

For the record, I had nothing to do with this outfit:

I thought the turquoise shoes were a nice touch!

There she goes...

My allergies have been HORRIBLE!  The cottonwood looks like snow falling...

Achooooo!!!

As Darling left for school today she said "well, it looks like someone sure has laundry to do" and she wasn't kidding!  I better get right on that!  I've already been to the dentist this morning and I'll fill you in on that later... brother!

Anyway if you're a new reader, I'm usually more entertaining, lets blame it on the fact that I feel like crap and am not feeling like entertaining anyone at the moment...

and because it's been a while....

a little plug about my BABY HAT DRIVE 

As most of you know, my daughter was adopted from China and I left a little piece of my heart there.  I'm collecting hats to keep the children and babies warm in the winter.  Many live in orphanages that are without heat.

1. make a baby hat, toddler hat, or kid sized hat (you can take the non-crafty way out and buy one if you must)

2. email me at: chinamommy_04@yahoo.com for my address.

3. I'll take care of shipping them to CHINA next fall.

any questions- please feel free to email me!!