Joining Up

So I'm adding one more BIG project to my summer to-do list - - - I'm going to join up with Sew Take A Hike's Yo-Yo Along. I've always liked Yo-Yo's but never had a reason to make any. I'm really late in joining up but better late than never. We are just getting home from a wonderful week-long vacation at Bear Lake and I am wishing that I had prepped for this project before we left. But I'm headed to pick up a Yo-Yo maker tomorrow and plan to cut lots of scraps so that I always have a pile ready to work on. I'm excited!

Summer Projects to Do - Someday Soon

This is my incredibly busy time at work . . . . no time for crafting. But along with checking off work projects that need to be finished up and taken care of, I'm also keeping up with my craft project list of things to do. For the beginning of July, I have these three projects at the top of said list:

1. Pillowcases - cute and totally simple! Little Birdie Secrets has this great tutorial that I really want to try. I need to pick up some Thomas the Train cottons for son #1 and then something fun for son #2. They will love them!2. Chick-sicles - seriously, how cute are these! Suzanne at Just Another Hangup has the pattern and a tutorial for a rice-filled cooling pad for the kiddos. Heck, I'd like one for myself too. Gotta get a few of these made to keep in the frig/freezer.3. Love Birds - and to go with the chick-sicle, Suzanne also has these rice-filled owl heating pads over at Just Another Hangup. For some reason, little boy monster heating pads seem to be running through my head . . . but even if I don't get that creative, these little owls will find a home with my boys. Ok - off to memorize some new laws and sign a stack of papers I forgot to sign on Friday so people can get paid. Work is never done . . . at least this time of year!

Life is CrAzY!

My list of craft projects to work on is almost as long as my housework/yardwork list and my work-work list of things to do. Unfortunately, sometimes those lists come before crafting. So in the meantime . . . I continue to add to my crafting list.

This Summer Picnic Blanket is from She Wears Flowers guest posting over at The Crafting Chicks. Love it - it is officially on my crafting list!In other news, we just got back from a wonderful long weekend up in Jackson, Wy. Fabulous, relaxing, and fun! And a new record . . . six bears in one day. A perfect time of year to be in Wy.

Projects in Progress

Well its been one of those weeks where life just took over from my "best-laid crafting plans". Work, family, yard work, and a Sunday nap have kept me busy. I do have a few projects in progress . . . I hope to get a few of them checked off on my list of projects to finish soon.

#1 - Fabric bookmarks: I want to have a couple of cute but relatively inexpensive teacher gifts on hand for the end of school in the next few weeks. Being a teacher myself . . . and being married to one . . . I know that practical gifts are THE right gift for teachers. We have a kitchen full of mugs and a counter full of candy that I don't need to each at the end of every school year. So "we" voted and I will be making some more fabric bookmarks to be given along with a gift card to either Amazon or Barnes & Noble (where ever I manage to get gift cards purchased) for each of son #1's teachers.

This is my current favorite bookmark tutorial - from Little Birdie Secrets. I've made a couple already but given them away before I remembered to take pictures.And then I found this fabric bookmark over at Creation Corner. Cute and easy!And another similar variation from Funky Polkadot Giraffe.

Finally a cute version from The Small Stuff - simple and easy.

And then there is my continued love-hate relationship with this charm pack baby quilt. I have about half of my rows sewn together . . . and I've just not had time to go sit back down at the sewing machine to finish it up. This is the inspiration quilt from Cluck Cluck Sew. I didn't want to lose the link so I'm linking here since I still need to hurry and make the applique flower.In big news though - my flower containers, flower beds, and garden are all turned, composted, AND planted! Ya hoo!

Above and beyond my typical craft projects - I am up to my neck in getting caught up on digital photo books for my boys. I do one for each of them documenting their year in pictures - from birthday to birthday. I got behind this year and am playing catchup. I'm not going to finish son #2's in time to use the big coupon that MyPublisher.com is advertising right now. But I'm sure they'll have another sale soon. I'm about half way through. Then I'll play catch up for son #1's book and then . . . . maybe I'll take another nap next week!

My Wish List is A Little Shorter

Right before I went to China last summer, I came across Lisa Leonard's blog and found her beautiful jewelry. The necklace I wanted had to go on my wish list though since I had a big trip to pay for. Well I recently had another anniversary of my 29th birthday (wow, I've had A LOT of anniversaries of 29!) and decided that necklace would be my present to myself. I do that every year - seems only right somehow to treat myself on that day. Ta Da! I love it!

My List of Things to Do This Month

How does that old saying go - something about it's always feast or famine. I went a few weeks without being in too much of a crafting mood - and now I have a list of projects a mile long. And I'm trying to be disciplined to hold off on using all my free time to craft so that I can continue on my de-junking binge. I still have my pantry, the craft room/office, and the storage room to go. It feels sooooo good to de-junk! But crafts are calling my name!

Here are a few of the things on my list for this month. Some are just for me and others are gifts. This is a new project I ordered that should be arriving this week. I can't wait for this one!

This is a project that I started a very, very long time ago. Here's a hint - until last year, it had been about 15 years since we put up a Christmas tree (just keeping life simple - not a formal protest of Christmas). Now with little ones around, we gave in last year and loved every minute of having a tree in the house. Without a Christmas tree, I haven't needed to finish this craft - but now it will come in very handy. Can't wait to finish this one up!This fabric is for a new project pattern I bought. I'm hoping to get to it this year.

These are something I do every year for family gifts. I've probably waited too long to get started on these. I hope I can find the time!

And these items are some of my all time favorites. I'll post more about these later. But we have some good ideas for gifts using new versions of these items. I need more time in every day! These are for a project I saw on a blog a few months back. I finally found the paper that I wanted to use for this one. Now I just need about 2 hours to put it all together.A simple - about 20 minute - project. It's been on my sewing table all pinned and ready to go for a few months and I forgot all about it. This will make a great present for one of my boys.And finally - this one will probably have to wait until January - but I have so many new ideas floating around in my brain for this ongoing project. I'll definitely post more about this one after the holidays are over.

I'll post about each project as I finish it - now I'm off to do a textbook review that is due tomorrow. Better put my reading glasses on!

I Want It!

I just found the cutest webstore . . . . and something I really want. Since I can't make it myself (despite my own personal jewelry making stash), I will have to save my pennies to buy it from this store. I figured I would add it to my blog so that I can find it when I have some money again, probably like 2012 A.C. (= after China). Check out this cute jewelry and Lisa Leonard's blog. Here's what I want . . . . with an extra pearl or two of course!