This annoys me

 

Ok so there's a lot that annoys me lately but this is one thing. While scrolling through Facebook I see the above item. 45 immature Home Décor Mistakes. Out of sheer boredom I clicked on it to see what they though were the mistakes. 

Just who does the writer of this article think they are that they can tell someone their décor choices are immature. Decorating should be done to suit your own personal taste. Sometimes decorating has to be done on the cheap. If all you can afford is plastic drawers then so be it.

• They said chevron was so overdone that it's an unacceptable pattern
• Don't use the phrase "live, laugh, love" because it's been over used far too much
• Posters are a big no unless you are high school or college age. After that they just show how immature you are
• If you're over 20 plastic drawers should be donated or used in the garage because a house should be plastic free
• Apparently anything from Ikea should only be bought if you are furnishing and decorating a first apartment and can't afford anything else.
• Choosing too many colors was out too because you might cause yourself or your guests anxiety from all that color. 

After that I just couldn't go on. If you like a ton of different colors splashed around a room then go for it. If you love a chevron pattern then use it. What all these so called experts fail to see is that not everyone shares their sense of style. We all like what we like and shouldn't be shamed for liking it.                                            

another version

I recently showed you a sign that I had made and I also posted it on Facebook. This was the sign

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After seeing it on Facebook my niece sent me a text message asking if I would make one for her mom. She asked if I could do it without the flowers because she didn't think the flowers were really her mom's Style. Not a problem.

I ended up not being able to find the same wood piece so instead I used a small bamboo cutting board that I bought at Dollar Tree. Instead of the flowers I added a cardinal

 

I mailed this out to her on Monday and believe it or not she actually got it on Tuesday

a unicorn donut

I was frying donuts at work the other morning and noticed a very special one right there in the middle of them.

 

It made me think of a unicorn

Simply amazing

This was on the front page of the Erie Times News on Tuesday.

This cardinal is half male and half female. Simply amazing.
 

Temporarily closed for napping.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Monday morning

Normally I get paid on Thursday. Last week however, our checks didn't arrive. When the boss tracked the package he discovered they were in Tennessee. They never arrived until Friday late afternoon and I never got my check until Sunday morning. I suppose I could have waited until I got my next check to go to the bank but I decided to go deposit it on Monday morning. Imagine my surprise when there was already three other cars there ahead of me

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Since it was a rainy and gloomy kind of day I spent the rest of it napping and lounging

Just peachy

A rather simple cake order. Peach flowers and peach border. Peachy keen.

Another week begins

Time flies so quickly. One week rolls into the next in a blink of an eye. I have nothing to talk about so I made a black and white collage of Gibbs 

I hope everyone is starting their week off with a smile.

multi-purpose employee

My official title at work is bakery manager but my duties go way beyond the bakery department. One of my jobs is to interview prospective new employees. Earlier this week I interviewed a woman and her son. The first interview was the mother. She informed me that her son was special needs and the only reason she was applying was to help get him in the door. She went on to tell me that she was willing to work for free just to get him a job. We ended up hiring both of them and while she doesn't start until tomorrow he started on Tuesday. I have never seen anyone so excited to be working. Telling him that he got the job gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling. His enthusiasm and determination are heart warming. I'm rooting for him to succeed.

a gift to myself

Call me crazy but coffee just tastes better when it's in a pretty mug. My favorite mugs are The Pioneer Woman ones. When I was at Walmart on Valentine's Day I happened to spot one that I thought was extra pretty so I bought myself a little gift

Sitting pretty

In the evenings when I sit and watch TV this is how Gibbs will sit and stare at me

Some of you asked yesterday what Gibbs thinks of the snow. He doesn't mind it so much but when it's this cold he doesn't stay out too long. He prefers to be curled up in a warm blanket just like I do.

cold and snow

There certainly is no shortage of snow or cold temperatures these days. We have our share of it here in Northwestern Pennsylvania. It started snowing on Monday on and off all day long. When I woke up Tuesday morning we had several inches on the ground and it was wet and heavy and crunchy. It's snowed on and off again all day on Tuesday and who knows how much we'll end up with by the time this is all over

 

Selling what you make

 A lot of people have asked me when I'm going to open an Etsy store. The answer is probably never. First of all I think that crafting for profit takes the fun out of it for me. It makes it more of a job. Second, there are just too many things to concern myself with to make sure I'm not breaking any laws.

That brings me to something that I'm finding very disgusting. The amount of people who sell things using copywrite material is just unbelievable. Why do so many people think that it's acceptable to sell an item using an image that belongs to someone else? Go to Etsy and search for Disney, Starbucks, or any other big name you can think of and you will find tons of items being sold. This is called copywrite infringement and it's not OK but it's being done all over the place. I see it on Etsy and I see it on Facebook.

When I was making cards or other items for craft shows, I would check to make sure that any images being used were not labeled as personal use only. Apparently that isn't necessary in todays world. Should any of these companies decide to crack down on the illegal use of their logos and images, a lot of people would be in big trouble.

another simple and easy cake

I'm wondering if a trend is starting where people only want a border and writing on their cakes. This is the second one in a row that I've gotten

 

Sorry about the sideways picture. I uploaded it and realized I hadn't rotated it beforehand. I was simply too lazy to go back and do it

Happy Valentine's Day

I was thinking to myself that perhaps I should go out and buy myself a Valentine's gift. After all if I don't buy myself one who will? Then on Thursday one of our regular customers came in and handed me and the girl in the deli a box of chocolates. Problem solved

 wishing each and everyone of you a very Happy Valentine's Day.

Before and after

Gibbs hasn't been on the blog too much lately because I'm kind of embarrassed about how bad he was looking. We went for so long without groomers being opened and then once they did open I had a really hard time getting a hold of one. I would make calls leave messages and no one ever got back to me. Well, the vet here started doing grooming. I decided that that was going to be the best possible way to get him looking good again. He went Tuesday morning and now he is handsome once again. Of course it cost me a fortune because he also needed a couple of shots to go with it but at least now he's all caught up. Here he is before

 

And here's my handsome boy after

sign number 2

Today I have the second sign that I made on Monday. I found this saying a long time ago and really liked it. This one I decided to add a few little silk flowers to

playing in the craft room

Monday morning I did some playing in the craft room. I had no particular ideas in mind, I just sat down and started playing. Using materials I already had I made two small wood signs with vinyl lettering. Today I'll show you sign one of two

Another version

I made another one of those coffee bars only this time it's a hot cocoa version. This one is for my daughter Amanda since she's not much of a coffee drinker. 

I put jars in the bottom section of this one too hold marshmallows

For Samo

Quick and easy cake. They just wanted a black and red border and no flowers. I tried something different with the writing. I wondered how it would look mixing printing with cursive. Not sure I like it.

Recycling project

I suppose this is probably more of a repurposing project and it is a recycling. The point is though, I used things that were destined for the trash can. First I took a bunch of plastic grocery bags.

 

I flattened them out, folded them and then rolled them all up together

 

Then I took an empty wipe container

 

I covered it with some vinyl

 

 then I dropped the role of grocery bags into the container and now I have a handy dandy dispenser

 

I got this idea from Purple Hues and me. I don't know if it was because I didn't roll the bags right or what, but when pulling the bags out from the center of the roll they don't pull out real easy.

Halo

Hello today I want to talk about Halo oranges. The other day I peeled a Halo Orange and the peel was sitting there all in one piece. I thought to myself, I should take a picture of that and use it as a blog post. Well, I never ended up doing that and then yesterday, lo and behold, on Sandra's blog is a picture of her Halo orange peels. So then I had to go back and peel another orange for my very own Halo Orange Peel blog post

 

Another gnome

I made another gnome Valentine card. This was a free cut file from Craft Room Time

The inside

To dress the gnome up just a bit I smeared some white glitter glue on his hat, I used a pink glitter pen to highlight his nose, a silver sharpie to add some lines to his beard and some red glitter glue to fill in his heart.

I went to put the gnome on the front of the card and it kind of got lost on the plain red heart. Then I got the bright idea of doing some dry brushing with white paint. Let me just say that it's not a technique that I'm real good at. It did help the gnome stand out a little more though

The big reveal

Today is the day you've been waiting for.

 I'm going to show you what I did with those wood trays and arrows

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The idea is not mine, I saw this on Facebook. I made a couple changes from the one I saw to suit my taste. 

So are you ready for this?

First I'll show you the picture that I saw on Facebook that I copied for my project

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Now here is my version

I absolutely love the way this turned out and it looks really cute sitting next to my coffee maker

Teaser post

Sorry about this but I'm going to tease you just a little bit before I show you the finished craft project. Here are my little wood trays and my arrows painted and ready for the next step

 

I used an ivory colored chalk paint on the trays and an antique wax on the arrows

Not good at sharing

I told you before about how Gibbs likes to get up on my desk and look out the window. The truth is he likes to get up there whether he can see out the window or not. Monday morning while I was leisurely starting my day in front of my computer Gibbs decided he was going to take his morning nap on my desk. He took up more than half the desk.

Not a good picture since it wasn't real light in there but you can see how much of the desk he's taking up. He's lucky I like him.

Dollar Tree purchases

Some of the Dollar Tree locations have amazing craft departments. People are finding all kinds of craft supplies that just have not been available in my area. Recently the local Dollar Trees have been adding some of these items. When I was there the other day not only did I actually find the items I was looking for, but I found a couple other things that I picked up too. First off are the items that I went specifically to find. I didn't hold much hope out when I went because usually I can't find what I need. These are the items that I will be making in to something. That's all the info I'm going to give at this time. Sorry for the teaser.

 

The little trays aren't very big. They are 6 1/2 x 4 3/4 inches and 1 3/4 inches high. The arrows are around 13 inches. 

These are the other two items that I picked out

 

There are some handy dandy little craft clamps and some silicone finger protectors. I actually had some of the finger protectors in my shopping cart on Amazon. I don't remember how many were in the package but they were between six and seven dollars. This package was $1 for three of them. These are to put on the ends of your fingers when you're using hot glue so that you don't burn your fingertips

Yesterday I worked on the project with the little wood trays and the arrows. Hopefully I'll have that finished soon and can show you

Valentine gnomes

Wow, here it is February already. Valentines Day is right around the corner. I downloaded the cutest Valentine gnomes from Creativefabrica.com the other day. I thought they would look really cute on some cards