While Walking My Dogs

Day 29 {Make Madness} – Part 2 – Painted Pine Cones

Posted on March 29, 2015 by gracieed

Day 29 of Make Madness – Painted Pine Cones

I love the multi-colored pine cones, but I thought I’d paint mine two colors to go with our decor. We have white walls with sage green accent walls so I chose a darker sage green and platinum.

I didn’t paint all the pine cones, but chose a selection of the rose cones, medium and small cones. I painted half sage green, the other half platinum.

When they were dry, I grabbed two candle holders and converted them into pine cone holders ;-). They really fit in nicely.

Until tomorrow,

I think we’re going to have to step up our ‘pine cone’ searches. Looks like we’re gonna need more walks!

Posted in Accountability, Challenges and Contests, Decorating, Goals, Homemade, Make Madness, Pinterest | Tagged accountability, Challenges and Contests, Decorating, goals, homemade, make madness, Pinterest | 3 Comments

Paws || Walk On – 3.22 – 4.4

Posted on March 29, 2015 by gracieed

Every now and then when I’m walking dogs, I will just stop, ask them to sit for about 30 seconds and then I will say “walk on”. That is there cue to start walking again. I do this for a couple of reasons: 1. They’re super focused when they’re on the walk and I like to know I can get their attention any time I need it. 2. It’s good to continue to incorporate training into their daily routines. Just as we need to continue to refine our skills, so must dogs.

This always reminds me how important it is for me to pause and reflect on the past week and then think about the next one as I “walk on”.

Paws | Week of 3.22-3.28

• spoke to my grandpa this week. He’s doing great.
• still mini Spring Cleaning my house and garage. Making huge progress, but it’s considering it’s been 25 years, I’ve got a ways to go!
• took care of a friend’s dog.
• continued reading Platform by Michael Hyatt.
• discovered our water heater had a huge leak; called Mike’s dad then the plumber. Thankfully no extensive damage.
• took several trips to Goodwill to drop off stuff.
• signed up with Goodreads; actually I reactivated my account. Great way to connect with fellow readers and keep track of books I’ve read and books I want to read.
• started walking 3 days/week with my mom. So much fun.
• had dinner with some dear friends.
• walked the dogs everyday. Decided to keep track of our walks on a calendar. So far for 2015: 84 out of 89.
• started reading Michele Cushatt’s book Undone. It’s hard to put down.
• continued with the Ripple Crochet Blanket for a wedding gift.
• still working on Margaret’s scarf.
• worked on and posted projects for MakeMadness.

Walk On | Week of 3.29-4.4

• call my Grandpa in England.
• knit and drink coffee with friends.
• finish up with the Photo-a-day challenge for March.
• celebrate Mike’s birthday.
• continue to work on Margaret’s scarf.
• prep crafts for the Easter Fair at our church and run the booth.
• need to make and post cards from January Card Series || Cards for 2015 in my Etsy shop. Have.got.to.get.this.done. Been waylaid by Spring Cleaning
• FINISH the mini Spring clean of my house.
• take care of a friend’s dog.
• start prepping for Mike’s Dr. Who Quilt.
• start pulling out fabric for a couple of super easy baby quilts.
• continue to make the Ripple Crochet Blanket for a wedding gift.
• have lunch with friends
• continue to organize my craft room. You’re probably wondering when I’ll be done with this. Me too.
• start prepping for April blog series.
• Skype and knit with a friend.
• continue reading Platform by Michael Hyatt and Undone by Michele Cushatt.
• work on Quest46.
• work on and post projects for MakeMadness.

My favorite quote from the week: “You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight.” Jim Rohn.

Have a wonderful week,

We’re wondering if you would help us with a gift for dad’s birthday. We have no funds and can’t craft, but we have endless love, hugs and kisses.

Posted in 31 Days of Cards, Accountability, Books, Challenges and Contests, Cleaning, Crochet, DeCluttering, Dogs, Goals, Homemade, Knitting, Make Madness, Organization, Quest46, Yarn | Tagged accountability, books, Cards, Challenges and Contests, Cleaning, crochet, Dogs, goals, homemade, knitting, make madness, Organization, paper crafting, Pinterest, Quest46, yarn | Leave a comment

Day 29 {Make Madness} – Painted Pine Cones

Posted on March 29, 2015 by gracieed

Day 29 of Make Madness – Painted Pine Cones

There are a couple of houses in our neighborhood that have trees that drop pine cones. Some of the cones are tiny and adorable, others are medium-sized and then there is one tree where the pine cones look like roses. Every day when I’m walking the dogs, I’m always on the look out for pine cones. I don’t collect one every day, but I’ve done enough collecting to fill this jar on the left.

I saw this pin (to the right) on Pinterest and thought it would be fun to paint some of the pine cones to add some interest to our decor.

Come back tonight to see how I did.

Until this evening,

If you’re just joining the madness with {Make Madness} here are links to the previous projects.

Hey I recognize those pine cones. We have to be extra good and wait for mom when she’s on the look out for a cone.

Day 28 {Make Madness} – Part 2- Sequin Storage

Posted on March 28, 2015 by gracieed

Day 28 of Make Madness – Sequin Storage

So this is one of those projects that I’m really glad I decided to do, but really wonder when I’ll actually be finished. I learned a valuable lesson about sequins today: When buying sequins, don’t think to yourself, “Hhmmmm…. that little bag looks too small. 200 mixed sequins don’t seem like nearly enough. I should get more.” Trust me 200’s enough. It takes FOREVER to separate tiny sequins into color groups. FOREVER. This will be a “doing while watching television” project.

My little sequin rant aside, I’m pleased with how my turnstile rack turned out. As you can see, in the picture on the left, it started out brown and then I painted it. I primed it with black spray paint, and then chose a bright purple to match my paint racks.

Here’s how it looks now – filled to the brim with tiny glittery sequins.

Until tomorrow,

So sequins it is, huh? Okay, but the next twirly rack thing you find at the next garage sale you go to should be for treats. It’s only right.

Posted in Accountability, Cards, Challenges and Contests, DeCluttering, Garage Sale, Goals, Homemade, Make Madness, Organization, Paper Crafting, Pinterest, Recycling, Repurposing, Scrapbooking | Tagged accountability, Cards, Challenges and Contests, decluttering, goals, homemade, make madness, Organization, paper crafting, Pinterest, recycling, repurposing, scrapbooking | 1 Comment

Day 28 {Make Madness} – Sequin Storage

Posted on March 28, 2015 by gracieed

Day 28 of Make Madness – Sequin Storage

If you were just saying to yourself, “I wish I knew how to store my sequins”, then, my friend, this post is for you!

I’ve been in a Spring-cleaning/Super organizing frenzy of late in the attempt to declutter and also have a really good idea about what and where my craft supplies are. All of them.

I have a couple of tins of sequins all mixed together that I use in card making and scrap booking. I’d like them sorted by color and when I saw this Pinterest pin, I knew this was how I wanted to organize my sequins.

Last September, I found a turnstile spice rack and knew that I would use it to store some craft supply, I just didn’t know which one. I came across my sequin bins a couple of days ago and thought this would be perfect.

The spice rack I found is brown and I want to paint it a cheerier color and then fill it to the brim with tiny glittery sequins.

Until this evening,

If you’re just joining the madness with {Make Madness} here are links to the previous projects.

Really??? You’re going to fill it with sequins. I don’t even know what sequins are, but I do know they’re not treats.

Saturday Snippets | March 28, 2015

Posted on March 28, 2015 by gracieed

Welcome to Saturday Snippets. This is where I share links and odd bits of info from the past week.

1. A real tear-jerker. You’ll need Kleenex.

2. This is awesome.

3. Not sure what came first – the coffee stains or the drawings. Either way these are awesome.

4. There aren’t words…

5. I think these gals are headed to Cirque du Soleil.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_xW6eQMkns

Well that’s all the snippets I have for today. Have a wonderful Saturday,

Little disappointed there aren’t any ‘dog’ snippets. You need to work on that.

Posted in Accountability, Books, Creative Randomness, Education, Exercise, Movies, Saturday Snippets, TV & Movies | Tagged accountability, books, education, exercise, Saturday Snippets, TV & Movies | 1 Comment

Day 27 {Make Madness} – Part 2 – Stamp Book

Posted on March 27, 2015 by gracieed

Day 27 of Make Madness – Stamp Book

This is one of those projects that’s going to take a while to complete, but I got a really good start today.

I started by numbering my stamp bins (1-????) as planned, but as I started to stamp the impressions I changed my approach. Instead of stamping each collection on a 8 1/2″ X 11″ piece of paper, I decided to label each sheet of paper with the type of stamp (i.e. Christmas, bugs, hearts. flowers, leaves). I hope that makes sense. The nice part about this system is that a stamp can be classified by more than one label. A snowman, for instance, is labeled under ‘snowman’ and ‘Christmas’.

After I stamped the image, I wrote the bin number next to the impression. When I filled a page, I popped it into a page protector and into my binder.

I’ll be sorting these page protectors in alphabetical order.

This is going to make it so much easier to find the stamps I want.

Until tomorrow,

I know you didn’t finish the project, but thanks for the long walk and the three squares.

Posted in Accountability, Cards, Challenges and Contests, Goals, Homemade, Make Madness, Organization, Paper Crafting, Pinterest, Scrapbooking | Tagged accountability, Cards, Challenges and Contests, goals, homemade, make madness, Organization, paper crafting, Pinterest, scrapbooking | Leave a comment

Day 27 {Make Madness} – Stamp Book

Posted on March 27, 2015 by gracieed

Day 27 of Make Madness – Stamp Book

I’m in an organizing frame of mind at the moment and I’ve wanted to make a Stamp Book for ages (years). What is a Stamp Book, you ask?

I have a large collection of rubber stamps for card making and scrapbooking. And all these stamps are tucked away in organized bins. That part is great, but when I’m looking for a particular stamp, I have to go to the bins and search through. This process takes forever and by the time I’m done, I’m tired and don’t want to stamp anymore.

So I’ve devised a plan where I’ll number my stamp bins (1-???), make an impression of each collection on a 8 1/2″ X 11″ piece of paper, place that paper into a page protector and put them into a binder.

Then when I’m looking for a particular stamp, all I have to do is go to my binder, find the stamp impression, note the bin number and go to that bin. Voila! Frustration over!

Until this evening,

If you’re just joining the madness with {Make Madness} here are links to the previous projects.

I’ll be right here when you’re done with this project. Please don’t forget to feed and walk me. I know how many stamps you have… this could take a while.

Day 26 {Make Madness} – Part 2 – Photo Lightbox

Posted on March 26, 2015 by gracieed

Day 26 of Make Madness – Photo Lightbox

I followed the tutorial exactly with the exception of a few adjustments because of the supplies I had on hand. I only made two adjustments – I used clear packing tape instead of white masking tape and I used tissue paper instead of tracing paper. I used clear packing tape and tissue paper on my original light box and never had a problem.

I cut up the foam core into 3 – 15″X20″ and 2 – 15″X15″ pieces. Out of two of the 15″X20″ pieces I cut out a section in the middle leaving me with a 2″ border all around. I also did this to one of the 15″x15″ pieces.

Then I taped the tissue paper over the three cut out sections. I doubled up the tissue paper to give it the look of tracing paper. It also strengthens the tissue paper making it less likely to poke your finger through the paper – like I did with my original light box ;-).

After all the tissue was attached, I (with Mike’s help) taped all the sides together. There are a couple spots that I’ll need to cover with a bit of tissue paper because I’m not a very clean cutter with the Exacto knife, but overall I’m pleased with the box.

It’s much bigger than the first one I made and makes such a difference when taking pictures of product for my Etsy shop.

Until tomorrow,

I don’t think I’ll fit.

Posted in Accountability, Challenges and Contests, Goals, Homemade, Make Madness, Pinterest, Saving Money | Tagged accountability, Challenges and Contests, goals, homemade, make madness, Pinterest, saving money | Leave a comment

Day 26 {Make Madness} – Photo Lightbox

Posted on March 26, 2015 by gracieed

Day 26 of Make Madness – Photo Lightbox

I was doing some organizing in my craft room today and noticed that my light box was in a bit of disrepair. Time to make a new one, like the one in the picture, that’s a bit sturdier.

Until this evening,

If you’re just joining the madness with {Make Madness} here are links to the previous projects.

Are you going to put us in the lightbox to take our pictures?

While Walking My Dogs

Day 29 {Make Madness} – Part 2 – Painted Pine Cones

Paws || Walk On – 3.22 – 4.4

Day 29 {Make Madness} – Painted Pine Cones

Day 28 {Make Madness} – Part 2- Sequin Storage

Day 28 {Make Madness} – Sequin Storage

Saturday Snippets | March 28, 2015

Day 27 {Make Madness} – Part 2 – Stamp Book

Day 27 {Make Madness} – Stamp Book

Day 26 {Make Madness} – Part 2 – Photo Lightbox

Day 26 {Make Madness} – Photo Lightbox

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