Winter!

Winter is one of my favorite times of year. This printable gives a few of the reasons why!

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Grateful and thankful

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Be Thankful Always

Even on days when it seems the world may be more than I can handle and I pray to make it through the day; I am thankful for each moment of life.

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Shrinky Dinks! Why have I not seen these before?!

Earlier this week the most amazing video popped in my Facebook newsfeed. (You can click here to check it out.) I knew my daughter and I must try this! So, I jumped on Pinterest and to see exactly what a Shrinky Dink was and get some ideas. All I can say is, where have these been all my life? 

Our first go round we used the recyclable plastic from cookies and that was a fail. So we ran to the store and picked up Shrinky Dink plastic sheets. That is when the fun began.  

The supplies we used were:

• Shrinky Dink plastic paper (I could not find a bulk package at our craft store but Amazon has it.). 
• Sharpies
• Color pencils
• Hole punch
• Pan
• Oven
• Optional Jump rings to attach to bracelet, necklace, key chain, etc

You can use stencils, free hand draw, or trace your image. Once you have your image ready you just cut and then heat as directed. For us it was only about 4 minutes at 350. 

                               

Our tips:

• Be sure to reverse if you are writing. Our first sunshine was backwards :)
• Round edges
• Remember it shrinks about 43% 

Guns or Glitter

An adorable printable I made for a niece that is expecting!

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Family history

My Grandma Carrie once asked me to research her family tree. So I spent most of my sleepness nights pregnant with my first child exploring our family history and genealogy. Once my little one joined the world, I would pack him up each morning and head to our library to continue research during my maternity leave. That Christmas I presented Grandma with a packet of information I had learned about her family. I loved spending Sunday afternoons with her as she would pull out the family photographs and tell me stories of her life.

Periodically I pick this hobby back up and continue expanding our tree. With the loss of my father and grandmother, I have felt the need to document their lives for future generations. Today I am excited to also begin the DNA insights and mailed off my first kit. I am hoping this will help me past a few roadblocks I have encountered.

You can learn about DNA testing and researching based on these results at Ancestry DNA. This link will also save you 10% if you choose to purchase a kit!

Crochet Rules Printable

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Font love

Fonts, fonts, fonts....Do you ever have enough fonts? My answer is no! So I have spent my Friday morning off eagerly combing through Font Space's website to find a new font.  Today I am looking for a font to design a little something for my desk. I may have gotten a little off track, but new fun fonts are just inspiration for a new project!

As I began my font journey today, I came across the font designer, Brittney Murphy. I am in love with her fonts! Here are just a few I downloaded. If you find yourself in need of a pretty new font, take the time to check out Brittney Murphy on Font Space. I have no doubt you will find something that fits the bill!

Click the link below if you want to check out the font and download!

Beautiful Mess

Simply Glamorous

Always forever

Hickory Jack

Peas and Carrots

English Essay

Oh my yarn

My name is Sarah and I am a yarn addict. I may need a support group to deal with this addiction. After hiding yet another bag of yarn (and oh was it beautiful); I decided I must reign in this madness. So I implemented a few rules that I would say I follow most days:

1. No stock piles of yarn are permitted. - Crocheting my be a post apocalyptic skill; however, my closets cannot hold this much yarn in the interim. The fear of being seen on an episode of Hoarders for yarn hording is real.
2. Yarn is only purchased when I am ready to begin a project. 
3. Only purchase what is needed. 
4. Avoid yarn sales -  I cannot be trusted to restrain myself when I see the sign.

 As I shop online this morning for yarn, I am trying my best to follow these rules since I have once again acquired a tote of yarn from little lapses. (Each purchase was necessary. Pinky swear.) However, we are welcoming a new niece to the family and I want to make her a couple little gifts. Currently I am drooling over these gorgeous yarns in the Spinup Yarns shop. Oh my yarn! I feel I am in love with so many! How can I choose?

Little hat I made from yarn I purchased from Spinup Yarns

A scout is

I can recall the day my oldest son came home from school eagerly clutching a Cub Scout flyer and membership information. I inwardly groaned remembering the scout events I was dragged to when my brother was a scout. Yet how I could tell him no? Especially when he said "Momma, this will be so much fun for us! Do you think I can get a race a car or build fires?! We can camp too!" Over the years just a few of our favorite projects were building his Pinewood Derby cars, building a rocket, rain gutter regatta boats, service projects to help in the community, built bird houses, and collected cards for soldiers. I found the projects encouraged activities that helped my son not only learn but to build relationships, leadership skills, and confidence in himself. The program is also family based to encourage participation as a family.

My youngest son ran home one day with the same look in his eye and papers clutched in his hand. So we once again began the scouting program, he attended for just the Webelo year and loved every minute of it. His favorite part was the wood working projects. As he learned the Scout Law he asked for a poster to help him practice it. We designed this for his room.

 

I am so glad each of my boys participated in Cub Scouts and feel the program helped them build skills they will use throughout life. The boys learned to set a goal for themselves and worked toward achieving that goal, this helped build their self confidence and learned to lead themselves. The focus on community and service projects reinforced the idea that we are all responsible for our community and to think of ways to help. Even years later I see the impact of scouting in their day to day actions.

Crochet love

I learned to crochet initially because I wanted to make my sister something special when she was pregnant. I had learned to knit initially but always had trouble finding the perfect patterns - maybe I just did not look hard enough.  Anyway. I quickly learned to love crocheting. I found it to be calming and fun.

There should be a warning issued to all new aspiring hookers......A warning that you may become addicted to yarn. Who would have thought that buying yarn could be habit forming. After catching myself hiding new bags of yarn I had to admit I had a problem. More on dealing with yarn addictions later.


Busy Mom Designs has created this adorable little pattern. BTW I love the patterns by this shop! This little pattern is easy to follow and works up quickly. It is one of the crochet projects I first learned to do and is still a favorite today.

Font Love - Misti's Fonts

I love fonts! It makes my day to find a new font that perfectly completes a project I am working on! One of my favorite websites that supports this font addiction, is www.fontspace.com. It currently has 30,288 fonts! Today I came across fonts made by “Misti’s Fonts” and am excited to begin happily installing them. You can check them out here http://www.fontspace.com/mistis-fonts

 

If you have never installed a new font, let me tell you it is a simple in Windows. You just:

·         download the file

·         extract the files

·         Open the file ending in .ttf (this stands for True Type Font)

·         Once the file is open, select the “Install” button

Simple as that and you have a fun new font to use! Here are a few examples of my favorite from Misti’s Fonts.

Where is Waldo?

When I was a kid I often heard “Where’s Waldo”? Well Waldo was on the slide at the playground, he was at the beach peeping over Grandpa’s shoulder, hanging out with my friends, and he was photo bombing ever picture I took. You see when I was about 10 years old, my Mom had given me a little blue camera that would the stamp the image of Waldo on each picture I shot. I was painfully shy and had an awesome speech impediment. Mom said she thought the camera would help me learn to express myself: I think it was more to keep my sticky fingers off her camera. Either way, it was all mine and I loved it.

I spent countless hours snapping pictures; and my parents spent countless dollars on rolls of film and the cost to develop what was probably most often pictures of questionable quality. It is a testament of their love for me that they never complained. Not when I asked for yet another roll of film, not when I eagerly handed them a full roll to develop, or when I received that little envelope of pictures and wanted them to look at each picture with me. They always pointed out the best of my shots and never mentioned that stack that really needed to be plopped in the trash.

That little camera sparked a love for photography which was fanned by my parents. My Dad would tell me if I took my time, then I could tell a story with my pictures. He would remind me to look at the little details and find the beauty of any subject I was focused on. I found in pictures I could capture a fleeting moment, a dandelion wish, joy in a child’s face, and really just the beauty in our world around us. I could tell a story with a photograph in a way I never could never do in words.

That little blue camera opened many doors for me. One door reconnected me with a childhood friend who I had lost touch with for 14 years. We reconnected with the goal to teach one another and learn a little more about photography together. This grew into a friendship that has supported me in everything from photography, to helping me find the strength I needed to file for divorce, to deal with my son’s disabilities, and the deal death of my father. 

Her friendship also helped me take a leap of faith and we opened a photography studio together in 2011. Our first studio was a small office we renovated with big dreams and small wallets. Within a couple months we had outgrown the location and moved to a much larger space – both because of our customer base and the ridiculous number of props we had to have. All throughout this time I worked to hone my photography skills and continue to learn Photoshop. I learned everything from how to photograph those itty bitty babies to photographing the chaos of a wedding, I also learned more about business than I could have imagined was possible.

That little blue camera opened the door for me to find confidence in myself and learn I have the ability to capture a moment or tell a story that can be treasured for many lifetimes to come. Opening the door to the studio helped me grow as a photographer, move out of my comfort zones, to believe in myself, and to teach my children you can truly reach for your dreams. All of this was possible because my parents decided I needed answer the question of “Where’s Waldo?”.