Super Busy!

I have been super busy lately, but getting nothing done...or atleast nothing I really want to be doing. It seems every minute of my life lately has been taken up with studying and more studying. I want to work on my crafts and projects, but the only time I get to do that is when I am watching TV, and tonight is the first time I have sat down to watch TV without doing homework too...and here in a few minutes, I will probably be picking up my homework again. I am really afraid this cycle will never stop because I know how difficult next semester will be when I start my nursing classes. I have been trying some new studying strategies to give me more time to myself and my family while at home (like recording my notes and listening to them in the car on the way to school and home--an hour drive each way), but even with that, I feel overly stressed and can't seem to find time for me.

I'm still hoping this cycle ends soon...or I might go crazy!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday...Ummm Tuesday...

So, here I am even later this week getting my pictures in, but I atleast I am doing it! This weeks items were

1. Pink

2. Books

3. Fall Colors

4. Leaf

5. Orange

Pink

Books

Fall Colors

Leaf

Orange

 I will add next weeks items later....gotta take munchkin to g-mas house lol.



Pictures and Studying?

I have an exam coming up in my Anatomy & Physiology lab, and there is a practice test set up for studying with microscopes and slides that will be similar to what we will be seeing on our test. So, today I went and took some pictures of the slides to help me study (not the simplest task either to take these pics), but some of the slides turned out pretty cool looking, so I thought I would share them.

Who knew that cells, tissues, and bone could be so pretty when viewed through a microscope?  If any of you ever try to get pics through a microscope like this, be sure to block out the light between the camera lens and the microscope eyepiece and don't get discouraged! It is a pain for sure, but these eventually came out pretty nice. (Also, I had to turn my focus from auto to manual...yay for learning how to do something on my camera lol).

Scavenger Hunt Smunday!

It's Scavenger Hunt Smunday again! (Yeah, one of these days it will go back to being Scavenger Hunt Sunday!) Pop over to Ashley's blog to see everyone's interpretation of this week's items.

This week's items were:

1. Golden
2. Smell
3. Fruit
4. Simple
5. Sports

Here are my photographic interpretations (shhh...don't tell anyone I did this in less than 10 minutes today).

Golden colored quilt blocks.

Smell. Melon candle-still sitting out from power outage a few nights ago.

Why no, this is not the only fruit currently in my house...-adds fruit to the shopping list-

Simple: Kerosene lantern (also out due to power outage).

Sports: Okay, so this is the closest I got to sports this week- shooting my new handgun.

And next week's items....drumroll please....

1.Pink
2.Books
3.Fall Colors
4.Leaf
5.Orange

Sunday's Post

Well, Sunday I couldn't get my computer to upload pictures to my blog, so here is Sunday's post...a day late.

At about 1:00am (Saturday night/Sunday morning) I finally finished the rug I have been working on intermittently for the last couple weeks. I think it turned out nice, but different from my original vision. The coolest thing about this rug is that it was truly made from scraps with the exception of the dark pink...that was a pair of scrub bottoms. The rest was all pieces that were less than 1 square foot, and most were actually odd triangle pieces or trimmings that I could only get one or two strips from, so the prep work took a bit longer on this one...but  it is more recycled too, because most of the pieces were too small for much else. I'll be looking to start another project tonight or tomorrow...hopefully a simple one so I can finish it in one day and feel like I've accomplished something. Well, here is a picture of my rug, and a one of our ride today.

My wonderful rug!

Getting ready to ride out.

It was pretty cold starting out and I couldn't find anyone to watch Munckin, so I wound up driving the van instead of riding my bike or riding with hubby. It was still a fun trip, but the directions and map were absolutely attrocious! 

Use your Crap challenge.

I am joining the Use Your Crap link party at Shannon's blog. Today is supposed to be our first post, but I didn't get a chance to fully complete a project today (but I did work some on a rag rug I had already started). For this challenge, we are not supposed to buy a single new craft item for the rest of the year. I do have quite a large stash so I may be able to do this challenge, but I am making one special exception for myself for buying things. My brother-in-law has finally started going through some of my sister's old things (she passed away last year), and anything that belonged to her for crafting, I will still purchase...because it was hers. I purchased quite a bit from him this morning already, so there may not be anymore.

I didn't get a project finished today, but I did get my stash put (mostly) in one spot. I had it covering the bunkbeds for a long time, but got a shelf for it set aside today and set everything on/around it. There are still probably about four totes of stuff not shown in my pictures, and some plarn and t-yarn and juice pouches.

My stash (or most of it)

Yarn stash!

More yarn stash (and still more in the bottom of a tote)

My stash is still very unorganized...I need to sort it by type of fabric and color and whatever else I can think of. Right now, I really don't even know what all I have...only that I have enough to keep me busy for awhile!

Remembering Rebekah

Well, I am not sure if I had mentioned it on this blog before, but I have a younger sister named Rebekah who lost her battle with cancer about a year and a half ago. Her husband is finally parting with some of her things, so I went to his house to pick out what I wanted before the yard sale starts tomorrow. I came home with 2 large totes full of yarn and fabric. As I went through all of those things, I realized again how much alike she and I are.

She had loads of fabric that had been picked up at yardsales (still had the masking tape and price on it), and several things it looked like she was planning to repurpose...like an old bedsheet and some curtains. She loved making handmade gifts for everyone, and she was great at it! I wish I could have shared with her when I found out how to make t-shirt yarn, and plarn...I know she would have loved reusing old things and making them new again. (Another thing I found was about 10 crochet needles in only 2-3 sizes...like me, she would misplace one and go buy another).

The other great thing about getting those boxes of her stuff, was finding her half-finished projects (she was working on several things). I feel like there is still a part of her wrapped up in that yarn (the part-finished things) because it is something she put work and love into. I am still deciding what to do with those projects though. I certainly will never unravel them, but should I try to finish them out?...(I don't even know specifically what she was making). Or should I just tie them off as they are and give them to her closest friends and family?

I have thoroughly enjoyed my evening of reminising and the glimpse of my Bekah that I miss so much. She was my best friend in the world, and I will never feel that I did enough to show her that when she was alive.

Will I ever make it?

I've been kinda bumming around this morning, checking out some blogs. I keep seeing blogs with all of these followers and wonder...will I ever get 50 followers? (I'm at 2 now! lol). I don't want just random followers of course, I want people who are interested in what I have to say...I think I have something important to say... I want people who will give me honest feedback about my projects, recycling, selling my items if I choose to etc.

Sometimes though, I feel like no one would read my blog because I can't seem to make my posts seem interesting or flow in a logical manner. For some reason, when I go to write a blog entry...it seems choppy, but I can write an English paper worthy of an A with relative ease. Maybe I am not planning and editing enough... Even now I feel this post sounds whiney and disorganized. BLAH!

Well, in the hopes that just practice of writing something will help me to become more articulate and better organized with my ramblings...I am still posting this (and if you don't like it..don't read it....no wait! Come back! lol)

Scavenger Hunt Sunday? (....Monday)

Oops! I completely spaced yesterday and forgot to do my photos and link them up...so here they are, a day late.

1. Miniature
2. Water Droplet
3. Bedhead
4. Colorful
5. Eyes

Miniature: Me and my Mini-Me---Technically this was taken by my hubby (another below that I took in case this doesn't count).

Me and mini me again.

Water droplet: on inside of a water bottle.

Bedhead: ...my daughter pretending to sleep.

Colorful

Eyes: My daughter again!

Next week's items.

1.Golden

2.Smell
3.Fruit
4.Simple
5.Sports

BBQ on the River

Saturday night, Dave and I went with some friends to the BBQ on the River in Paducah, KY. There was tons of food and a few other vendors...and some wine tastings! We had a pretty good time, and I brought home a bottle of wine from the Purple Toad Winery...a very tasty strawberry wine. Other than that, we basically just walked around and ate food...I got to try some super awesome ribbon fries which are basically potato chips, but they were still awesome!

Aly and I had gone to the festivities a little earlier in the day, so I am posting some pictures below of she and I wandering around doing some fun stuff.

Doing some quilting!

Extra concentration needed...hence the tongue.

Dippin Dots as finger food! (Sticky hands!)

Dots are the Best!

Not sure why, but Aly has decided she really likes these hand dryers...she was doing a little dance in McDs bathroom (and I just happened to have my camera still in my purse!)

Hooray for sock creatures!

So...I made some sock creatures tonight (used real socks this time). Strangely enough, the "easy" patterns were the hardest for me to do. The bunny was my favorite...I will definitely be making more of him.

My adorable little bunny!

Side view so you can see his/her ears.

Squarish turtle.

Strange (but cute) fish.

Well, that's it for my creativity tonight. I'm completely out of ideas...for now. I think I will go put some of my rag rug material in a bag for tomorrow. I'm supposed to make an appearance at a 1st birthday party for a friend's baby, so a rag rug will give me something to do (especially since my hubby volunteered to show up early to help grill).

Back on track!

Yesterday I got back on track a bit with my projects. I spent probably 6 hours or so creating 2 new handbags. I love how the bottom one turned out (the first one I made). The other one, I am still undecided on. It is cute, but I am not sure it is something I would carry myself. For these projects I recycled/repurposed a bed sheet, lacy dress, placemat and pair of curdoroys. I may still do some finishing touches to these; I think the lacy bag needs a ribbon or other detail a the top, and the placemat bag has a seam showing on one of the handles (but down on the bag part...so I think I may put a flower or something there.)

 Lacy skirt bag...made from lacy dress and bed sheet.

Placemat bag...made from a placemat and pair of curdoroy pants.

I talked to someone yesterday about possibly consigning some purses and things at their shop. I think she has a nice, fair way of doing consignment. I tell her how much I need to get out of my items, and she marks it up 50% from there and tries to sell it. When it sells, I get my price and she gets the 50%...everywhere else I went, they price the items and I get 40 or 50% after it sells. Most of those places also send it to goodwill if it hasn't sold within 3 months. I don't want my bags that I make sent to goodwill, so those places are not a good fit for me. With the other place, I will have to ask for a little less than what I actually want out of my bags in order for them to sell once she marks them up, but I think it is a good deal anyway. I am not really putting my things in consignment to make money anyway, for me it is more for market research...to see if there are people out there who like and will buy my things. I asked some of my friends and family on facebook to rate some of my bags and things by telling me what they would expect to pay for such an item, but haven't had any responses yet.



Not so good this week

Sooo...today is Wednesday, and I haven't posted anything since Sunday....and also haven't worked on any new projects since then. (I have done a little bit on my new rag rug, but not much). I am going to cop-out and blame being sick, but I do need to start working at getting better or I will never have everyone's Christmas gifts finished in time...not to mention nothing to sell if I decide I want to do that. I have been thinking alot about what I would like the name of my business to be. Or what I want to have as a "brand name" for all of my creations. (I may have to make a facebook post and have my friends and family weigh in.) So, I am making a goal for this weekend to get my craft stuff semi-organized and projects ready to start. (I can't wait till we have the money for our own place so I can really organize my stuff and have a room, or corner of a room, dedicated to my projects.)

Charity

Project Pictures

I finally got some pictures to upload, so I am going to try to post pictures I promised last week of some of my projects. These projects are all made from recycled materials.

Rag Rug that I finished a few days ago. It measures about 21 inches.

Closeup

New rug I am working on.

Aly's Dora handbag...made from shorts (and a shirt).

Pocket.

Inside pockets...mismatched socks.

Cute handbag-Recycled placemat, mens shirt, button, scrap quilt material.

Liner is a recycled pillowcase, pockets made from the mens shirt.

Cloth napkins. Purchased fabric remnant with chickens, reverse side from mens shirt.

Purse crocheted with T-yarn.

Crocheted plarn purse.

I'm so happy to finally be able to upload these pics! Now I just need to get started on some new projects...right after I finish my homework lol. 

http://www.castleink.com/  (this link is for a scholarship I am applying for--feel free to check them out!)