SOCCER SATURDAYS

Since mid September I've all but one saturday hollering for the APG Arsenal Soccer U12 Soccer Team which The Munchkin is on. Before the first game I kinda dreaded that we'd committed EVERY saturday from September to October to Soccer! But it has been so much fun. I take a chair to sit in, I start out there but end up down on the sideline. I don't know SQUAT about soccer, ok let me go back I know that if the ball goes in the net it's called a goal. But other than that-CLUELESS! This is Munchkin's first year playing ANY sport and I am so excited and proud of her. She's made a lot of progress since the beginning of the year. She plays defense and loves it because she doesn't have too much running to do. Since getting my new camera telephoto lens I'v beem trying to get some good shots of the team on the field- I got more googling to do. Some are blurry, the color is off, or sometimes the clicker won't click!  Yes, I said clicker-stop laughing! Anyway thank goodness for editing so you don't pay to close attention to the picture quality.

It took a lot of restraint for me not to rush the field to check on my baby!
 The ball had hit her in the eye-she recovered quickly with no bruises.

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**NEW** Sketch!

I'd love to see what you create!

Oh measurements are exact. You could use a 5x7 photo also.

TFL!

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Family, FOOD, & Football

This weekend we took a quick trip down to NC to see my step-son play football. We stayed with my Gran Gran who lives about 25 minutes from him. So it was a triple-treat couple of days, we visited with family, ate some goooood southern food, and watched a good football game.

This is prbably the 4 or 5th pic I have us LOLing!

 

Must haves in NC!

 

The game was also homecoming he was voted: Mr. Senior

  
 

My Son Jamel

 

 

my girls and their camera's- just like Mommie!

 

TFL!

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Lil PINK & White Desk Re-finished



My Lil E, LOVES herself some  PINK! Any time she gets a choice of which color she wants for an item if it comes in pink-she always choosed pink. Well we've been hunting for a desk for her room for a while now. At first I was thinking of a old skool class room desk like this, I'd paint it pink ofcourse. Then I thought that was to small so I went looking online and found this desk at walmart and thought it wouuld be PERFECT! Well I put off ordering it for whatever reason. The Hubbs was off one Friday and happened upon a yard sale where he found the cutest little desk for $5! I couldn't believe it-either.
So here are the before and afters.

BEFORE

I forgot to take a pic before I started sanding-OOPS!

AFTER

(gotta get two plugs for those 2 holes there)

All I did was sand it down so that there was no shine. This was impossible on the back of the hutch section so I went to my local Home Depot Store and instead of spray paint. I bought a 1 quart of the pink in a semi-gloss and 1 gallon of rhe white paint in a satin WITH primer in it! **genius**

(thought it was clever to paint the inside of the drawers pink)

It's a little more expensive but I'm a Lazy Crafter. I like stuff done quick & easy. So I painted the pink first, taped it off with blue tape then painted the white.

I also changed out the knobs it had long fat wooden ones I thouht these little round ones were cuter. This was my first time re painting a large piece of furniture and now I'm hooked...next on the list...the rest of the girls' room furniture, dinning set, and lawn chairs!

Total desk redo cost around $50!

TFL!

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Camera Evolution

 I've always LOVED taking pictures..not necessarily of myself but of friends, family, places & things. I remember buying the disposable 35mm camera's as early as 5th grade. In high school my Mom gave me my first non-disposable 35mm...I wore that poor camera out and the people at the Wal-Mart & Winn-Dixie photo processing centers knew me by name! I remember filling out the envelop dropping my little roll in anxiously waiting 5-7 days for my pictures to come back. I was THRILLED when next day service came about. Then Winn-Dixie opened the1-hour processing and I could get different sized photos. I'd hang a sheet on my closet door, grab the desk lamps from my brother and my room for lighting and have my brother take pictures.....HILARIOUS now thinking back. This was my camera back then.....



That camera lasted me through the birth of my first child. I'd dropped it so much I had to duct tape the battery door closed!

 This was my very 1st digital camera...I remember buying it in Alaska @ the PX it was around $250. I was so excited that I could just snap away then go back and delete the bad photos and only develop the ones I wanted. It was an expensive buy for me but I thought it was worth it because I'd save a ton on film developing. I took pictures EVERYDAY so the35mm was expensive!

Now belongs to my oldest daughter and still takes great photos

Digital Camera's started getting smaller and with larger screens so after about 6 years I decided I needed an upgrade. I loved my first Kodak so I stuck with them and bought this one

My husband thinks this will be his camera but this is gonna be my purse camera (hehehe)

Got this one from Target for around $175...I loved that it was small and has an automatic lens cover. It fit in my coat pocket or my small purse..great for when we are at amusement parks. I also liked the larger screen 2".

My scrapbooking hobby led me to want better pictures and the ability to try different techniques not possible with a point n shoot. So I began the process of shopping for a DSLR camera....GOOD GOO those things are pricey! My first thought was I'll stick with what I got shoooooot!

I changed my mind a million times, I researched, price compared, tested them in store, read countless consumer reviews and decided I wanted the Canon EOS Rebel T1i. What sealed the deal is my dad has the same camera & I was able to play around with his during a recent visit where I shot this photo...

NEVER can get a good shot of him until....this one!

That was it! I had to have this camera, I saved and constantly priced checked then on 10/3/2010 I place the order..she arrived that following Friday and we've been inseparable ever since!





TFL!

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$75 Curtain Rod for less than $15!!!!!! TUTORIAL

You read right! I've lived in this house for a year and I've been waiting for these curtains rods to go on sale and use a coupon to get them even cheaper but I keep missing it. "see them here" at JCP. I googled around the web and got the idea to make them from PVC PIPE! I was like why didn't I think of that?

What you'll need:

PVC Pipe (my window measured 120" or 10' so I went with the 10' pvc)

Spray Paint for Plastics
2 PVC end caps
Wall Mount Brackets (I got them on CLEARANCE @ Home Depot-SWEET!)
Finials (on clearance too!)

The pole is easy...I sprayed on 3-4 coats. Let it try til it's no longer tacky to the touch.

 

I didn't have to spray the finials in this case they matched. I sprayed the end caps

Rather than hot glue finials to the pipe, I opted for a less permanent fix.  I drilled a hole in the top of pvc pipe end cap.

Then simply screwed the finial onto the cap.

Attach the finial/cap to the end to the pipe,

hang your curtain rod using the curtain rod brackets and....

BAM! You got yourself a beautiful, cheap, nobody can tell the difference curtain rod!

This took maybe 2 hours only because of drying time.

Now I gotta buy some shears OR make some! :0)

TFL!~Happy Crafting!

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Ruffled Camera Strap Slipcover Tutorial

I love anything that can be customized. Especially if I can do it myself! When I decided to buy my new DSLR Camera  I knew I had to have a cutesy tootsey camera strap. The one that it comes with is wayyyyy to BORING! I love pinks, ruffles, flowers....okay you get the point I'ma girly girl! HA!

One Sunday night while The Hubbs watched football I sat down and made my slipcover. I was a little nervous because I've only used my sewing maching on to sew stitches on paper. So anyways here's what I made...my first but certainly not my last RUFFLED CAMERA STRAP SLIPCOVER:

Here's what I used:

2-3 different pieces of fabric at least 1/2 yard

sewing machine

pins

ruler & measuring tape

iron & ironing board

cardstock

camera strap

Here's what I did:

Measure your camera strap.

I measured the length and width then added 1" to each. So measurements were 25" x 2.75"

Fold the ends over 1/4" and press to help hem stay 

Make sure your hem's match so that your two strips of fabric remain the same length. Sew and back stitch the beginning and ends. 

 Use a ruler and measure 1/4" in from the edges, You should have 2" in the middle

Sew one end of the two pieces together. It's helpful to pin the fabric together so that it doesn't slip around while your sewing. Back stitch the beginning and end.

Next cut your fabric to ruffled. This will need to be double the length of your strap. I cut a 42"x 1.75" strip. 

Next I stitched a zigzag hem on my ruffle fabric. With the top of the fabric up so the zigzag shows. Then sew a basting stitch down the middle of your ruffle fabric. Pin one end to the base fabric and pull the strings at the end to make the fabric "ruffle" 

here you will need to play with the ruffles to get them even

Pin the fabric down and sew a stitch down the middle 

**TAHDAH!**

These fabric roses came from my scrapbook stash I just hand stitched them on.

Next I pined my ruffle over towards the middle of the fabric to avoid catching in the stitch (good idea but then it was hard to get the pins out form the inside-got pricked about 6 times! OUCH!)

Fold the to loose ends together, you will be looking at the underside of your fabric, sew a line all the way down. Back stitch the beginning and end. 

AND VIOLA! Once you flip the fabric from inside out you get this!

TFL~Happy Crafting!

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Cookies & Crafts!

I must have been bitten by a HUGE create bug this week. My glue gun was smokin'! I orginally got inspiriation from a good friend of mine whose starting her own paper crafting business (more on that later). Halloween is coming up and I LOVE all of the cool crafts and yummy treats that go along with this holiday. I've come across some really cool crafty blogs like: How Does She? Crafts by Amanda The Idea Room amazingly talented ladies. I got all of the following ideas from these sites. Check them out!

I've been wanting a wreath for my door but I wanted to be a Halloweeny/Fall theme (yes, halloweeny is a word) couldn't find one so I made one.

I all ready had the wreath, all of the added items came from Michaels, I made the spider web with hot glue. I made the whole thing in one evening!

Also while blog hopping I came across a post the said: Perfect chocolate-chip-cookies  No-way, WHAT?! Really?! Perfect huh?  Well I'll to see about that......

 

OMG!! They were so...... well, PERFECT! They baked up perfectly, taste perfect and super easy to make. The recipe called for *melted* butter, I'd never heard of sucha thing! But maybe that is the secret to this PERFECT cookie!

I made two dozen and had a little batter left over so I created these....

                                 GIANT chocolate-chip Snickers Cookies

using my current favorite baking pan the Muffin Top Pan. I haven't made a muffin top yet, but it's great for giant cookies!  One of these was so scrumptious with vanilla ice cream, hot fudge and dallop of whip cream! YUMMMM...

Like I said I got a HUGE bite by the creative bug....So I created a couple of other crafts. When my oldest was little I'd always make custom hairbows to match her dresses. Then I learned to braid and haven't created a hairbow in years until now..................

Erynn is gonna be so CUTE with these on her puffy balls hairdo!

The next little craft was just so cute I had to try it. Mason Jar luminaries!

There are a ton of different ways to make them, but I used acrylic paint, clear glossy spray laquer, & mod podge.

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