It's been so long...

I can't believe how long it's been since I last updated this craft blog. I have been crafty, just not as much as I want to be. Life keeps getting in the way of my crafty-happiness.

I have a couple of goals that I'm hoping to follow through with this upcoming year.

* weekly dlemma posts
* Organizing my house
* I'd like to get up the courage to get some of my things published and or try out for some kind of design team.
* My sister and I are also going to work harder at developing our Spritescubed store. We have some really cute items up for sale.


What are some of your goals for the upcoming year?

Can't Keep Up

I have been working on some crafty stuff. I promise. Just not as much as I would like. We have been incredibly busy as a family and I just can't seem to find the time to craft ( or blog ).

What I'd like to do today is show you some of the projects I've been working on.

I made this sign for Emma's Piano Teacher. She recently got married and this is their favorite Bible quote. I like the way this turned out so much that I almost kept it for myself!

Emma and I made these for her classroom library. I made them using my Cricut Expression, vinyl, Stampin' Up stamp set ( retired ), printed paper from my stash and Stampin' Up! card stock.

Set of coasters made using tile, Stampin' Up! printed paper, Mod Podge, and varnish.

First set of coasters I made. Using a paper pack from my stash. I love the fact that these are so summery. Living in Washington, I really feel the need to have something that looks and feels like summer.

These are pictures of a mini album I've been working on when I can find the time. It's not quite finished. I can't quite figure out what I want to do... so, like I said. Definitely a work in progress.

I am hoping that with summer vacation nearly here ( June 25TH is the last day of school here- I can't believe it's so late this year!) I'll be able to get some more things done.

I'm looking to revamp my craft storage/area. I've already started spray painting some of my older baskets in red and aqua. I think I'll feel better about everything when I have matching/ coordinating things. I'm just anal that way. I also plan on hitting Joann's or Michael's and buying about 10 wooden crates- and painting them a very pale aqua ( that way they'll still coordinate with the colors in my room). I also planted a flower container garden this year - using my old flower pots, repainted in red, white, and aqua. I even painted an old ladder flower stand ( I got it from my Dad a while ago). Which is where I am storing several pots. I feel pretty good about recycling my old pots- I only spent about $10 on spray paint, so I saved some big bucks. Especially since a lot of my pots were fairly large. We have also planted tomatoes and strawberries in Topsy Turvies this year. I am hoping for a really nice crop. If the weather warms up some I should be okay.

What are your plans for the summer? I'll be heading back to Twenty nine Palms Mid August to visit my sister and her family. I'm going by myself. I need a break and I only feel a little guilty about leaving. We just don't have the money for all of us to go- and my sister is paying for half my plane ticket. It's a HUGE help. I love it that I have her back and she has mine. It's a beautiful feeling.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful week!
~K

I Crafted Happily This Weekend

I spent some time this weekend crafting happily. Here's what I made.

I made these framed initials for my girls room. I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out. I used the Storybook Cricut Cartridge. I got the frame from the dollar store and painted it light blue(using Martha Stewart paints). They go nicely with they're room decor. I love making decorative items for our home.

Here's some more glass etching. I used the Storybook Cricut Cartridge for this project as well. I think this is my favorite glass etching project to date.

I made these cute little boxes for Easter this year. I was tired of buying baskets and having them end up on the floor. This seems to be a better solution. At least this way if they get torn up they'll fit in the trash can.

I'm feeling really productive today. I made these things and got them posted withing 2 days. Go me! It is a momentous occasion. For Real. Not only that- but I got my bathtub cleaned this morning as well. We have hard water issues- so it can get pretty nasty. I used an idea I got from my sister and tackled it with a Brillo pad. Now everything is much cleaner and shinier than before. THANKS SARE! Hope your week is wonderful. I'm hoping for some sunshine. It's hit or miss here in the Pacific Northwest.

Our Trip To The American Girl Store

In February we took my daughter and her best friend to the American Girl Store. It seemed like we were in the car FOREVER. I am so glad that my husband was around to do the driving. I hate city driving ( and a good portion of the trip was highway/city driving) and would do ALMOST anything to avoid it.


The girls were hoping to eat at the restaurant. Unfortunately, I didn't do my research until the morning we left. Turns out you need reservations to eat in their restaurant. The only available time they had was 7pm. We were not willing to hang around that long.

The store itself was pretty amazing. We walked in and it was wall to wall dolls. They had some gorgeous displays. We walked out of the store $90 poorer and Emma walked out with a new doll and two really cute doll outfits. One of them was a raincoat, and rain boot set- which is appropriate considering we live in the Pacific Northwest.  I'll have to get a picture of the new doll and her two outfits.

We have promised our girl another trip to this amazing place- we owe her a meal there. It's a long way to go just to eat-but, she's only going to be twelve for a little while longer. We don't want her to miss out on being a kid.

Some Crafts For Our Shop

These items are already up in our shop. Except the cards.

 All of the magnetic memo boards were made using discontinued SU! paper.

 These cards were made using Unity Stamps and paper from A DCWV paper pack. I think. But, since I put the paper in a "safe" place and can't find it at this time. I am not certain I am correct. There are so many paper choices out there that it's hard for me to keep track.

 The dry erase menu boards were made using paper from my stash. These pieces of  paper are several years old. What can I say, I love paper. I am proud of the fact that with most of these projects I have used the paper that I had rather than heading out to the store to buy more.

I used my slice and the wedding card for the words. These are just some of the items in our shop. My sister has made some really beautiful jewelry and I have some signs that I still need to photograph.


Don't forget to stop by our shop.   www.spritescubed.com

A Bit of Valentines Day- Delayed

My youngest daughter is going to be in the 7TH grade next year, so this is our last year making Valentines for her class. This year we chose to make little matchbook Valentines with packages of M&M'S inside. Pink for the girls and red for the boys. The cardstock and images are from SU! These were very easy to make. I think between the two of us we probably spend about 90 minutes making 28 Valentines. Perhaps a little more with prep time.

As a special treat for my family (and Emma's teachers) I made these cute little Valentine Sugar cookies. Packaging, cardstock and images are from SU! I used a Wilton cookie pan for the the heart cookies. I bought the pan at Target for $9.99. My recipe made enough for 5 teachers, my husband, 3 kids, my sister and two nieces. I really like to be able to assembly line as much as I can- and I was definitely able to do this with the cookies and the matchbook Valentines.

I can't believe it's already April and I'm just now getting around to posting my Valentine's Day stuff. Life sometimes gets in the way- a lot. Try as I might it can be challenging to keep up with my blogging as well as making things for our online shop. You should stop by and visit us at   www.spritescubed.com  . This is our blog and you can find the link to our shop there. We are officially open now. However, we are still in the process of taking pictures and posting pictures as well as designing and making our specialty items.

Photos From the Week of January 9TH

Emma at Piano practice

                                                            Monday January 9,2012

I love my Kindle.

                                               Tuesday January 10, 2012

                                                          Wednesday January 11,2012
                                                           Emma broke her Kindle today. She was so sad.

                                                           Thursday January 12,2012
                                                      We love Amazon. Emma got her replacement Kindle.

                                             Friday January 13,2012
                                               Sky at sunset outside of our local Starbucks.

                                           Saturday January 14,2012 outside one of our local movie theaters.                                         I took the girls to see Beauty and the Beast 3D.

                                                          Sunday January 15,2012
                                                            HaHa. Actually got her cleaning. :) She was
                                                           Cleaning so her friend could come over.

Week One of Project 365- January 2-8,2012

 This is the first week of my project 365. So far I have only used the phone on my Android phone. As with anything there is a learning curb. I am hoping that by the end of this project I will be taking better photos with this camera. I do plan on using my cannon dsl for this project as well...

First day back at school after the Holidays.

Monday January 2,2012

This is about as cuddly as they get with one another. The girl kitty doesn't like our orange boy.

Tuesday January 3,2010

Lunch Wednesday January 4,2012

Yoga Ball and Mat- for my 9 week yoga challenge

Thursday January 5,2012

Lunch out with my favorite young man. Friday January 6,2012

Some quality time alone. Crafting magazines and peppermint white mocha frappuchino. Yummy. So worth the caleries! Saturday January 7,2012

For my breakfast this morning. Some really yummy homemade hot chocolate- in one of my favorite Starbucks mugs. Sunday January 8,2012