My new addiction

I'm sure you've all seen the epsom salt candles floating around the blog world. I liked the idea, but thought it could use improving. Here is my version...the glitter candle.

I love how sparkly it is! I painted hot pink onto the bottom 3/4 of the candle (2 coats) and when that was dry had my little helper coat the paint in Mod Podge. Then we covered the Podge in glitter! I didn't seal the glitter, because I didn't want to take away any of the awesome sparkle but since it will just be sitting on a shelf I figured it was ok. Now, I don't know about the safety of burning this candle, but with as stinkin' cute as it is why on earth would you want to! Once it was all dry I just tied a ribbon around the top of where the glitter ends.

Here it is next to my coffee filter carnations. If you want me to put together a tutorial on how I made the carnations let me know!

I think I'm going to have to make one for each holiday because as soon as we were finished Madie said to me "I want to make more" and since she rules this roost I think I'll just have to oblige. :)

Did you win? And some random things about myself.

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:12Powered by RANDOM.ORG

It was actually out of 33, but for some reason the number generator chart keeps changing the max back to 100.

Congratulations to Patricia, winner of the $35 CSN Stores gift card!

I loved reading the things you all wrote. Here were some of my favorites.


Pamela - Let's see. Last year, while pregnant I had to try and catch a skunk that decided to move into some poor camper's trailer while they were at a state park. I came out a little smellier but was able to trap the skunk. As part of my job as a wildlife biologist I also rescued eagles, hummingbirds, caught an alligator and relocated rattlesnakes and gila monsters. I'm now a stay-at-home mom having fun baking, birdwatching, and organizing my fabric stash and craft room.

Patricia - Something interesting about me.. I am 25 and going to be a big sister yet again , this will make the 8th sibling for me!

Lori - I always fold my papers into thirds or sixths, never halves or quarters. 

Lacey - I'm a sixth grade teacher, and I'm shorter than 5 feet tall...that means MOST of my elementary students are taller than me!

Kaity-Bug Crafts - My interesting fact: I have to put my left shoe on first-always. Otherwise, everything feels weird!

Lisa J - something interesting about me... I only dry my face with toilet paper. strange I know... :)

. - I can wiggle my nose like Samantha on Bewitched...though it's been a few years...so I might be rusty. :)

This was so much fun for me! And since I promised to reciprocate with some random things about myself, here goes...

- My husband and I met on myspace. We joke that we are the only good thing to ever some out of that website.

- I can actually touch my elbows together behind my back.

- I met Chris Farley when I was in elementary school.

- I did taekwondo for several years growing up, I'm a black belt.

- I'm part Choctaw...one of my ancestors was a Chief.

- I play the flute and kind of play the piano.

- I can lead 3/4 and 4/4 timing at the same time (each with a different hand).

So apparently I'm not that interesting. I even asked my husband to help me come up with something and the elbows thing was all he could come up with.

Bath toys holder

I had to throw out the holder for Madie's bath toys this week...it had seen better days. I didn't want to spend $15 or $20 on a new one, especially if it is only going to last for about a year like the last one. While at the dollar store this week I came across these mesh laundry bags. They come 2 in a bag and are 12" by 15". They are intended to go through the wash, so I thought they would be the perfect candidate for bath toys.
Perfect! Now all I needed was something to hang the bag up, like these!

Image from dollartree.com


And since getting my Silhouette, I've become a bit obsessed with using it, so the bag got a little paint job. The "O" in "toys" is a little ducky.

Here it is in action!

I love it, Madie loves it (she loves anything with a zipper) and it's hard to beat $2. Plus, there is another bag so when this one bites the dust, I'll already have another one! Oh, and the suctions cups didn't want to suction to the tile in my bathroom, so I hot glued them up.

I love you frame

Looking for the CSN Stores giveaway? Click here.

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This is the first thing I made using my Silhouette. We don't do much for Valentine's around our house, but with all of the cute decor out there, I just couldn't resist making a little something.

"Be mine" seemed kind of silly, since we kind of already agreed to do that one, so I just went with "I love you". And you can't really see it from the pictures, but the white background is sparkly. This was fun to make and Madie even helped me.
I printed out the words in the font "Love Letters" from dafont.com, took a piece of white cardstock put a coat of Mod Podge on it, sprinkled glitter on the Mod Podge, put the letters on the cardstock and then painted the frame pink and just tied a little bow around one side of the frame. Pretty fast and pretty easy...my kind of craft.
And here is our whole mantel (my dad built the brick wall and mantel and my mom painted the picture hanging up...I guess crafting is just in my genes). I think it needs something on the other side of the clock next to the taller vase of "carnations"...I'm just not sure what.

Do you like my little "carnations"? I bet you'll never guess what I used to make them (ok, you probably will).

CSN Giveaway!!!

Look at what the FedEx man brought me this morning!!! :D

Yep, I won a Silhouette SD!!! Thanks to QuickKutz & the ladies over at Brown Paper Packages (linked over on the right side of the screen under "blogs I check out"...you should check them out too!). I've been impatiently awaiting her arrival for 2 weeks and I must say it has definitely been worth the wait. I've already made something with it...but it's still drying so you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see it. So you will be seeing more out of me this year. 


I don't want this post to make you all feel bad...so how about I give you something? Have you been to CSN Stores recently? If not, then go spend some time on one of their many sites deciding what you will spend your $35 on if you win. 
Maybe some modern dining room furniture, like this Swiss Cheese dining set?

Or how about some nice buffet lamps?

Here's how you can enter -

1. Leave me a comment telling me something interesting about yourself. I would love to get to know you all better! I promise I'll reciprocate with some random info about myself in the near future.

That's it. Nice and simple.

Giveaway will end Wednesday, January 26th at 11:59 pm MST.

Open to residents of US & Canada only.

Good luck!

I need your input...

The dress I wore at my SIL's wedding is a beautiful shade of blue (like a powder blue, or as we call it in our house Cinderella blue). But...I'll never wear it again, which is unfortunate give how much it cost. So I want to turn it into a skirt, but I'm torn on what style. 

Option 1 - Anthro knock off from Ruffles & Roses

Option 2 - Charlotte Russe knock off from Sew Dang Cute

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Option 3 - Joann project sheet

image source patternreview.com

Any ideas what I should do???

Princess Dress

My SIL got married last Saturday. She didn't ask my daughter to be a part of the wedding party, but I thought she needed a little matching dress anyway. Madie calls it her "princess dress".

Showing me which shoes she picked to wear with it :)

This one just because I think it is cute! Playing in the tree outside the temple. 

I used Simplicity 4647 combining views A & B.

After making her dress, I remembered why I hated sewing...patterns! I HATE using a pattern. If I don't have to use a pattern, then I enjoy sewing but patterns kind of kill it for me...especially when they take me over 5 hours to construct! In the end, I think it was worth it.

Linking up:

Purse Notebook

After I saw this on Sister's Stuff I knew I had to make one! I made this one for my SIL, who is almost 12, for Christmas. I also made ones for my niece & nephews (but I forgot to take pictures). Hers was a purse similar to this, only pink and the ones for the boys looked like Spider Man & Iron Man. I'll see if I can get my SIL to take pics of the ones I did for the kids and then I'll post them.  

I'm still alive...

I promise to get some projects posted...but not until after this weekend. My SIL is getting married on Saturday and I've been hemming & altering bride's maid dresses (5 down, 1 to go) and making a dress for my daughter to wear. Next week, I'll get pics of some of the Christmas gifts I made.
Oh, and I can guarantee that I'll be crafting more this year (which will hopefully translate into blogging more also). Want to know why? Well, you'll have to wait and see ;)