Who Wants Cake?

I truly believe that a person should eat a piece of cake everyday of their life, because no matter what kind of cake it is, it gives you a sense of celebration...and in life everyday should be a celebration! And of course cake is just yummy! For my hubby's birthday I wanted to make the cake. I had in my mind an idea for a cake that was two playing cards, since he was playing a game of cards with his buddies during his party.



The cake.....
Two boxes of vanilla cake mix.
Two Cream Cheese frosting.
One Red frosting for decorating.
One Black frosting for decorating.
Candles.

Nothing to it...a piece of cake!

I Know I'm a Slacker

So it's been over a week which means I should have tons of projects to post right? Wrong. It is that time of year again where work is busy busy busy (corporate tax deadline).

This is our new gate for the dogs. Why do we have a gate you may ask...well last Monday when I got home after work, I let the dogs out in the backyard to go potty. I then left them alone so I could put my stuff down and go potty myself. In that two minutes Spade (the one on the left) disappeared.

Some may say oh no big deal, my dog gets out all the time and comes back a little while later. For Spade, it is a big deal. She never travels far from her chair and even needs coxing to go outside to go potty. When we travel to the beach she keeps a small distance between me and her, about 3 feet. She is 11 years old and doesn't move that fast. So for her to run away, it is a big deal. As soon as I noticed she wasn't in the back yard, I circled the house...no Spade, I looked under the porch...no Spade, I looked up and down the street...no Spade. At this time my husband got home and I told him what was going on. For the next 5 hours I walked and walked and drove around the neighborhood. She didn't come home that night and I did not find her anywhere.

The next morning I got ready for work with 3 hours sleep and holding tears back thinking we weren't going to find her. I couldn't stop thinking about her and decided to call in to work. The search began again....Animal Shelter, Animal Control, Vets office, radio station, newspaper and every stop sign I could get to got a poster. At 3 pm while I am walking around the neighborhood knocking on doors, Animal control calls.....

"Someone called about a black dog in their back yard since last night. I think it may be Spade. Go check it out and let me know if it is her."

I ran to that house, and the owner was out front. "Do you have a dark brown dog around here?" We walked to the back of the house and she opened her entry way...no Spade. My heart sank. Another dead end. Then there was movement to my left in the yard...it was Spade!!!

We now have a gate! Built out of some frames and fencing left by the old owner.

A Break From Crafts...or not!

The hubby and I took a drive out the road to one of the State Parks on the island. We wanted to let the dogs run around and I wanted to pick Salmonberries and Russian Berries.

After a while searching for something else, I found some yarn in the van and decided to search the forest for "knitting needles" aka sticks that were the same size. I used my husbands knife to trim down the nubs and create a point at the tip and a rock to smooth things out. Piece of cake and they work great too!



Spade didn't do much running around, mainly just slept in the van. Her age is really showing these days.

Of course crazy man Kane ran around the entire time we were there. He had so much fun, that his muscles were actually sore the next day.

All Dressed Up...And Can't Go Anywhere

There she is...Sexy Sadie in her very first handmade piece of clothing! It is not done, not even close, but I am so giddy over being able to work with a dress form. I can't even explain how it feels. I can pin the fabric directly on the model, nip here...tuck there.

The flowers on the fabric are my pounded flowers. I decided that if I hand wash in cold with mild detergent, it shouldn't fade that much.

Is that really me?

I have finally made my very own dress form, using the duct tape method. Now I didn't go as far down as they did mainly because I did it myself. After asking my husband to help me for the last decade, ok maybe not that long, I decided to just try and do it myself.


I grabbed my rolls of duct tape, put on an old t-shirt and stood in front of my sliding mirror closet doors. All by myself I wrapped the duct tape around my midsection and up my torso. I flung the tape over my shoulders, reached and grabbed and wrapped and taped myself up. This was no easy task, I highly recommend getting someone to help you with the duct taping of yourself!

The finished product...I cut off my duct tape mold, reinforced everywhere it needed it and stuffed it with shredded paper I grabbed from work, and ta da....Sexy Sadie is born.

Now looking at Sexy Sadie, she is not sexy, but magnificent none the less, (I definitely need to start working out), and she will make designing and sewing my clothes much easier.

How dare you steal my bed!

Chevy (the cat) has had a bed of his own next to my side of the bed for a long time. During the move his "Kitty Cube" aka bed, turned into a dog toy box. Their old toy box was the bottom of his kennel and I needed that to move him from trailer to house. Unfortunately for Chevy, I like the "Kitty Cube" as a Dog toy box...they can't dump all their toys out easily, it is foam so they can't hurt it and it is the perfect size. Don't worry about Chevy though, because he is well taken care of. Instead of his "Kitty Cube", he now has a deluxe Chevy Bed........

Here is Chevy checking it out, before I put the final reinforcements and cushion on it...

Looks like he approved.

Steps:

1) Cut Cardboard to form a cube.

2) Cut fabric to cover Cardboard.

3) Hot glue fabric to cardboard.

4) Hot glue cube pieces together.

5) Reinforce corners...drill some holes and use yarn to tie them together.

Cushion was made with an old tee shirt and stuffed will scrap fabric and old batting.

Final product...approved by Chevy. (I think he likes it, although I did rub fresh Cat Nip on the cushion)

Make it Fabulous

The old owners of our house left two old ugly matching seventies looking lamps. I generally love old vintage style, but these look like they wouldn't of been in style even back then. Here's the lamp...
I like the shape of these lamps and the holes. Also they are big lamps, they sit about 3 feet tall. I decided to give them an updated makeover. All I needed was some spray paint, foil and masking tape.

My first step was masking off the area for the green. I used foil, because it molds to the surface which makes it easier to block off the area. The blue tape is just painter edging tape. Then spray away!

For the black, I did not mask off the area. Instead I wanted the black to blend into the green.

And here is the final product!!!!!!

Sitting in "MY" Craft Room

The craft room open for business. All boxes have been emptied and placed on shelves or in drawers. Organizing all the supplies is the next step, which may not be for a little while. This last Monday, for the first time since the move, I finally sat down in the craft room, gathered supplies and started crafting. It felt great!!

This is just a quick project to announce to family and friends our new address. The picture isn't the greatest, doesn't show the texture or dimension of the paper. Hooray for Craft Rooms!

A Photo Safari

Last Saturday, two good friends and I woke up early, guzzled down espresso and with cameras in toe, headed off on a "Photo Safari". All of us will be working on a craft project called "Photograph your City/Town". We traveled around town, hiked up trails and even saw things we haven't seen before. Here are a few photos of our trip...

We will be doing this again!!

Just Couldn't Resist

The weather for the past week has been in the low 70's. You must believe me when I say that 70 degrees in Alaska is like 90 degrees elsewhere. The reason, well could be a combination of a few things...being in the Northern Hemisphere means we are closer to the sun...our sky is very clear...who knows the exact reason but the sun is defiantly hotter!

So the other night I am sitting with my husband watching TV, talking and trying to cool down when I hear the most beautiful music, the ice cream lady. "Do you have any cash? Where is she? I hear her!" We paused the TV, sat very quiet, and tried to figure out what street she was on. I step out on the porch to look for her. Unfortunately the sound disappeared. She went down a different street. I grabbed $10 and sat it on the coffee table just in case she came back.

About 5 minutes later I hear her, in the time it takes me to grab my money and open my front door there she is. I ran out and flagged her down! She stops, gets out, looks at me and giggles to herself (and continues to giggle at me). She laughs at me for wanting ice cream!

I get inside the house with my two $4.50 (each) ice cream cookie sandwiches. Look at my husband and start laughing uncontrollably. "She was laughing at me....I feel so ashamed." Is it wrong for a 29 year old to run after the ice cream lady on a hot day??

Don't Judge Me

So the June art show is over, summer solstice has come and gone and we are losing a little daylight each and every day. A friend of mine picked up my art and delivered ALL of my art pieces to me...you guessed it I sold nothing! I shouldn't care, art is subjective, not everyone will like what you make, but I can't help but feel a little disappointed. I worked very hard on my pieces and thought they were unique, interesting and cool. I even kept the price reasonable. Some of the other art pieces were priced up to $75 or more. I feel a little set back and this will surely not help with my crafting self esteem.

The goal is to start making money selling crafts, but at this rate I will never get up off the ground.

What the....?

It is sad times for the crafters on my island of paradise. WalMart is taking away the fabric department! Most of the fabric is already gone and just an empty space remains. I was told that they are expanding the electronics department.

The craft department is already fairly scarce. They are only carrying two brands of yarn, the fake flower section is made up of a few leaves and two or three different flowers, and everything else seems to only give you a few selections. The fabric section wasn't' the greatest, but was a nice alternative when you didn't want to spend $10.00 a yard for fabric at the locally owned fabric store. (yes I typed that price correctly) When I think about sewing, I think of making my own clothes, curtains, bags, blankets, and doing all of this for less money than I could buy these things. If I am going to spend $30 (or more) and my time to make one shirt, is it worth it when I can buy something already made for less? I still believe it may be for the uniqueness, but other than that I am not sure.

WalMart what have you done to me!!

Maddness

It only took four days, but we are moved in!!!


I took off Friday and Monday to finish up and get settled, so I had a full four day weekend. (too bad it wasn't lounging drinking margaritas in the sun). All day Friday was spend packing and moving out every last bit of our stuff we could. We left our mattress, TV, kennel, clean clothes, vacuum, cleaning supplies and bathroom stuff in the master bedroom, since they are remodeling it they told us we didn't need to shampoo that carpet. This would be our place to sleep and unwind till we moved. Saturday was spent cleaning every last inch of the place....window and window sills, carpet, fridge, freezer, washer, dryer, oven (we even pulled it out to clean around it)...the place looked as it did the first day we moved in. We did such a good job that we treated ourselves to a couple "liquor" drinks and Taco Bell that night.

The plan for the big move-in day......my husband would meet "the landlord" at 10:00am at the house, to help haul things in his pickup truck. I would stay at the trailer consolidate our stuff and finish cleaning the bedroom and bathroom since we've been using it. Swap houses!

20 minutes till 10:00am Saturday morning there is a knock on our front door, I am in my pj's, my husband is getting in the shower. It's "the landlords" wife.

"You need to move your vehicles! I have people here with pickup trucks full of stuff and your in the way!" *picture mega witch voice*

So we move the vehicles, explain that her husband told us to meet at the house at 10am so we were unprepared for her to be there so early. She didn't care! While I drive to McDonald's to get breakfast, my husband hops into the shower. In the time I am gone, "the landlords" wife yells at my husband for being there....

"Why is there stuff in the fridge and freezer, you guys were suppose to be gone, why are you here? You still have stuff here, why aren't you gone!!! I have stuff to move in and my cat is in the car, and you guys just need to get your stuff out!"

My husband takes everything out of the fridge and freezer and puts it in a box (which sits in the bedroom for an hour and a half). We load up what we can which include our animals. He takes off to the house while I stay and clean. When he gets to the house, there is no place to put the food in the refrigerator, and my poor animals get stuck in a bedroom by themselves. It will take us only one more truckload to move the last little bit of stuff out of the trailer, time 12:30pm. "The landlord" tells us he need till 6pm to finish moving out and cleaning, so we go to the parents house and hang out......

6:30pm we show up at our house...everything is out! It is our house!

Unfortunately cleaning was not a priority, the fridge was so gross I had to scrape things off of the shelve to clean it, the toilet hadn't been wiped down after he used it last, the tub was dirty, the stove top was dirty, the pantry had crumbs on the shelves, there was cat hair embedded in the curtains...and I could go on, but I won't bore you with that, it was just gross. Why did I spend 14 hours cleaning the trailer if this is what I was left with here?

The positive...it is just dirt and I know how to clean.

Monday we settled in, unpacked the kitchen, master bedroom and living room. Still lots to do but for now we are happy home owners. Next project....CRAFT ROOM!!!

Almost at the Finish Line

The big news came in on Friday....the loan went through and we can close on the house this Thursday and Friday. I spent much of my time this weekend packing and cleaning and feeling very very overwhelmed. I can't seem to finish a room, because there is always something I have to keep unpacked. I find it very bothersome that most of my craft supplies are in boxes, yet I don't have time to craft anyway, so it shouldn't matter. After 2 months of waiting this last week seems to not be enough time to get everything accomplished. Somehow I know it will get done.

Taking Out Frustrations

I love finding craft ideas that can help take out frustrations. On Wednesdays episode of Creative Juice they showed a technique of "hammering flowers". The project was Pounded Pansy Napkins. With a little research on the internet I found some other Pounded Flower tutorials and instructions, which gave me some good technique ideas. Now to find the flowers. A lady at work received flowers from a friend of hers and they were at their last little bit of life. They still looked good but in a day or two they would be in the trash. I told her about the project and without asking she offered the flowers to me. They were beautiful orange/red Lillie's. Much bigger than a Pansy, but hey its a flower why not try it.

When I got home I immediately started digging through my fabric looking for anything that was white and a cotton blend. I found soft jersey cotton and went to work...placing ever so carefully, taping the pedals down and hammering the juices out of the flowers. It was a little tedious of a project, and my arm started getting very tired from the pounding, but it was well worth it!

I pounded five flowers into the fabric, and also used some of the leaves. I didn't try to create any kind of pattern, because I wanted the final result to look very organic. I am also not sure what I will do with the fabric, maybe a table runner...maybe a scarf...maybe it will sit in my craft room and collect dust, who cares it was fun to do and I will definitely do this craft again.