So we meet again...

Shabby Blogs
So, I've decided to give this little blog some love. I think it has missed me. I may have missed it as well. Plus, making myself post things on here will force me to make things and be crafty. That's not to say I haven't been crafty during my time away from this blog. I HAVE been crafty! I'm serious! Oh, you don't believe me, then I'll post pictures. I'll post lots of pictures and show *you* what's up! 

Whoa...I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. I think my bickering, petty children have rubbed off on me. 

 Breathe in. Breathe out. 

Okay, I'm in a better place.

I don't know if anyone even reads this, but I need it for my own personal accountability.  I won't be crafty otherwise.  So here goes. . .

 From my last post (in May) to now (eek, end of November), I've done quite a bit.  We went to Disneyworld and I made "autograph books" for the kids.  To say that the girl loved meeting Aurora (aka Sweeping Booty in our house) would be an understatement.  She wouldn't let her go.  Cinderella was a different story.  While she liked meeting her, the girl tried to lift her skirt and then tried to rip off her wig.  Ol' Cindy definitely earned her paycheck that day :)

The boy had a birthday in August.  It was pirate-themed.  That night, my house looked like actual pirates had come and pillaged it.  By 830pm, the boy and I were exhausted!  But he and all his friends had a great time.  The girl's birthday in October was a little less extravagant.  It was her 3rd birthday. . .next year I'll do something more, when she'll actually care.

For Halloween, I made their costumes.
The girl was supposed to be a scarecrow, but ended up looking more like a harvest fairy or something.  Either way, it was pretty cute.  I got the idea off of Pinterest.

(Side note:  I love Pinterest.  I love it more than someone should love a website like that.  I had to have a personal intervention with myself, because I would lose hours at night on Pinterest.  I'm happy to announce I am reformed and am much less of an addict.)

I made her a tulle dress, with a handmade flower in the middle where the halter straps attached.  And I made her hat out of felt with a handmade flower and some tulle decoration.  The boy decided he wanted to be a cowboy.  Thank you Lord!  I say that because I didn't have to buy or do anything for his costume. Last year, I had made him some chaps.  All I had to do this year was let them out around the waist and it was perfect.  Plus, he has plenty of guns already so I knew he was covered.

Happy Crafting, 

or Scrapping, 

or if you're me, serious mess making. . .

                  Jen.

The Graphics Fairy

Valentine's Day fun. . .sort of.

Monday is Valentine's Day.  The day of love.  And to show my son how much I love him (and all things crafty), I decided that I would make our own Valentine's cards.  If you go to The Idea Room, you'll find a ton of ideas for super cute Valentine's cards for kids to bring in.  I saw them and I wanted to do that.  I didn't.  I realized that since they're probably going to get messed up in my son's backpack between our house and school (which is only a 2 minute drive. . .and yes, I drive him that super short distance), I thought simple might be better.  Here's what I came up with:

Okay, I can't say that I came up with it myself.  That would be lying (and I'm trying to teach the girl that lying is BAD!).  I found them at Bright Ideas.  It's the website for all things M&M and yumminess.  Between two teachers and 18 kids, I thought I was going to throw up pink, red, and purple hearts by they end of it.  What do you think?  If you can't tell, they're supposed to be fish.  The fish of Love :)  I wasn't sure the boy was going to be able to put his name on all of them.  He was pretty tired of it after the first nine.  You should have seen him when I told him that I forgot the teacher cards and he had two more to do.  But they are done and off to school today.  Why so early?  I guess they are putting them in mailboxes today.  At least that is what the boy told me and he said he NEEDED to bring them today.  Actually the conversation went like this:

Boy: What are you doing?

Me: I'm cutting hearts to make your class Valentine's cards.

Boy: What are you doing with the chocolate?

Me: I'm putting them on the cards.

Boy: Can I eat one?

Me: No.  I have to make sure I have enough for the cards first.

Boy: (Insert whiny tone here as a result of no chocolate).  Well, there are a lot of kids in my class and I need them tomorrow.  So you better work faster.

And off he goes to destroy the enemy castle in his room. . .

Oh, and as a result of me needing to bring lots of wonderful candy to school, those little fish cards are not the end of it.  On Monday for the party, I'm also bringing these:

Little baby food jars, filled with M&Ms and candy hearts.  Because the little piece of chocolate on the card wasn't enough, I thought the kids needed more sugar!  I painted the jars pink, put a little piece of tissue paper inside, added the candy (they are evenly distributed, because I didn't want some kid to think he got less than another. . .because things like that MATTER!), covered the lid with more tissue paper, and finally tied it off with curling ribbon with hearts attached.  Wow, that was one long run off sentence. In case you're wondering, 6 candy hearts and 16 M&Ms.  And RJ made sure that I got the plain chocolate M&Ms, because some kids in his class can't eat or don't like the peanut ones.  I don't know if this is due to allergies or just a general dislike, he was vague on the subject.  Maybe he's like me and didn't want to have to share the peanut M&Ms with others.  So, Valentine's Day parts 1 & 2 are done!  Sunday is the day for part 3. . .I'm making CUPCAKES!  Yes, I'm that mother sending in as much sugary goodness as possible.  You know you wish there was a mom like me in your kindergarten class!

On a very random side note. . .MY NEW WASHER CAME YESTERDAY!!!  Now, my beautiful dryer has a partner!  I don't think I can describe how excited I am to have these.  They are LG and they are the greatest things EVER!  I did 3 loads of laundry yesterday, just to do laundry!  The only downfall, the dryer doesn't fold my clothes.  If it did, I would be golden.  I hate folding laundry, I really really HATE it.  I would pay someone to come in and fold it for me.  That and emptying the dishwasher.  Oh well, I guess I can live with it. . .until my kids are old enough to fold for me!