Pretty Projects... & A Failure! (AKA I Can't Always Be Perfect)

First off... I'm anxiously excitedly awaiting the arrival of my new little niece.  C'mon honey!  We want to meet you, cuddle you and smother you in kisses xoxoxo.   Keeping my brother and his family (and more specifically, my sister-in-law) in my thoughts and prayers as the countdown continues.   It will be so much fun having a princess to spoil!

Second... I wish I could sew.  Seriously, I own a sewing machine but I can't sew a straight line if my life depended on it.  A class is on that to-do list... but that to-do list is a mile long!

Third:  I'd really like to master the paper rosette (as shown on the Dream, Create, Inspire blog.)  Mine always come out lopsided and not-so-pretty.  I think this is probably one goal I should be able to get right.  Darn it, I will get it right!  Nothing will stop me and you'll see these pretty paper pieces popping up all over my do-it-yourself projects.

Ok, next... while Kevin was gone I thought I would find more time for projects galore.  I hit Michael's with the boys and picked up some supplies (because of course, I needed more supplies... it's not like I have enough sitting in my craft room waiting to be turned into something beautiful.)   They both take after Mommy and can't walk out of there without something fun to make.  They both picked out scrapbook papers so I can make pages for their albums (sock monkeys for Justin, of course.. and Kaleb picked out a monkey-rocket-robot combo.  Could be interesting.)   They also picked out perler beads - you know those not-so-wonderful buckets of melting beads that end up all over your house?  They love these things (and used their own money to buy them) but I don't really get the point (I mean besides encouraging creativity and keeping them occupied for hours on end, right? Cuz that's a good thing...) But really, you make shapes or animals or whatever... and can only add so many lanyards or magnets and I'm just kinda left sitting here going, "huh, now what are we gonna do with them?"   (Kevin - who does not have a crafty bone in his body - points out that ALL kid's crafts are pointless.)  So true!

Okay, that was a little rabbit trail... any how, back to the creative wonder I was going to be.   Well, I didn't really get started crafting until Kevin got back.   We've been married almost 7 years and I just did my very first wedding-related scrapbook page.   Seriously.  And only because one of the supplies I picked up (Walmart maybe?) was a magazine (Creating Keepsakes) and it had a feature on incorporating song lyrics as your journalling.  Great idea!   So here is my completed page inspired by our first dance and the song "Come What May" from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack.

Altered Canvas Squares
Scrapbooks Etc.
My next project for the weekend was my big fail!  It's awful... but it took Kevin 2 hours to get it all hung properly spaced and all (let's not go there!) that I think I'm kinda stuck with it for a while.   I was inspired by this easy-peasy project featured on Scrapbooks Etc.   

Simple & straightforward, right? Especially for someone who uses the same technique to create photo stars.  Yeah, not so much.  They failed to mention that the canvas and paper don't really adhere that well together, modge-podge or not... and it wrinkles like crazy.  After it's wrinkled and everything has dried, it also tends to pull up at the corners.   I'm so very very disappointed.  All in all, it was a less than $30 disaster.  My Amy Butler (my baby sling was the same fabric line!) paper pad was less than $10, I had the Mod-Podge.  Acrylic paint was $.50 and I had a foam brush.  Canvases were in a bulk pack on sale at Michaels, 10 for $19.   I'm just not happy though - cost or not - it did not live up to my ideal and I was really, really counting on a unique but inexpensive decor idea.

Oh, I'm a great friend who finally got birthday cards to the December girls... you know, the cards I've been talking about in my last few posts.  Better late than never!   At least they were a success.

I'll probably make another post tonight (aren't you lucky!) spotlighting some fabulous blogs I found this morning while searching for some Valentine's Day craft ideas for the kids.   Some of the ideas are adorable and some of the blogs were full of spectacular ideas.  I think one of these days, the idea overload might knock me out.

And finally... if you don't think your kids are listening to you, think again!  Weeks ago the monkeys wouldn't stop nattering so everytime they started in on each other, they had to stop and repeat "Be ye kind one to another" a couple times.   We don't really do the memory verse thing (although perhaps we should) but Kaleb surprised me this morning when asking them to be quiet because the baby we're watching still naps regularly.   "Mommy, you should have said 'Be ye kind one to another."  Huh, they got it! 

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