Susan... Here... Carol... Here... Lisa... ABSENT!

I feel like I'm in trouble, like I missed roll call at school or something because I've been absent from this baby! I have a few reasons but too personal to share... sorry, no explanations.. :)
I have one reason to share with you though, we've been busy setting up my daughter's Barnes & Noble Color Nook. 

Photo courtesy of Google Pics

My 8 year old is a reader... and when I say reader, I mean READERRRR! She can easily conquer 6 chapter books (3rd-5th grade level) in a week! A WEEK! Yes, she out-reads me by far! So she has successfully filled up 2 bookshelves, about 650 books in her "library", the next step for us was to get her a Nookcolor, in hopes that she can read all the free books and then get some B&N giftcards for her birthday to hold her over for a while.  I don't even keep track of how much I spend on books for her so hopefully this will work, and what's good is that she can access the internet, her email, radio, download music and movies all on this little baby! :) Now... we just have to figure it all out. haha

Motivation?

I forgot to mention in an earlier post that there is SOME motivation for me to lose weight. When I say some.. it's not for the right reasons. I should want to lose weight because it will better my health, because I will be more active, because it will help with my back pain, etc. But some of the onlyyyyy motivation I have to lose weight is for Fashion. 

Lauren from Busy Bee Lauren is a fashionista!

She does an outfit a day post, she always looks so put together, cutesy, I wanna be like her!
I really have no fashion sense and I wanted to blame it on my Army years because really, my outfit was picked out for me daily, I had no choice, so then I reverted to sweats and t-shirts after work because it was easy. Now that I think about it though, I'm not quite sure I had such a great sense of fashion BEFORE the Army. So either way, I have no fasion sense... the end.. HELP!

Idea from Between 3 Sisters

I want to be able to wear this (above) without looking like a fool, okay, maybe not the shoes because I remember having some of those bad boys when I was little and I don't think I liked them then either! But I love the jacket, and no you can't tell me it would look fine in a XL, because really, it doesn't... I know... 

Fashion from Forever 21

To not have to worry about my upper arms look big would be wonderful! Something flim fitting around my waist would be great, I want to be comfortable instead of wearing things to "hide" this or "hide" that, and without having to suck it in all the time. It's hard being a bigger girl when you know you can be different. I don't want to be "ok" with being my size because I don't want to get stuck feeling like this is the right size for me, because it's not, I know that and I know I just need to make the change.

From Anthropologie...

Being able to wear something cropped at the waist rather than making sure it is long enough to cover my butt would be ideal. Am I the only one that dresses like this? Questioning every reason why I am wearing something. Is this long enough, loose enough, hiding enough, etc? Just writing this is making me crazy! I don't know how I deal with it all going through my head all the time... Well I hope it changes, ASAP!

Don't forget the coupon section!

I know you all probably look at the Hobby Lobby and Michaels websites daily like me but just in case you don't have the time or you need a one stop shop, I've uploaded direct links to their coupons and sale papers in the "Coupon" section above! :)

Happy Crafting!

Totally Un-Craft related...

Ok.. so life happens, we all can't stay home and craft 24-7 like we want to.. or at least like I want to. I work a full time job, and take care of 3 girls and my husband. Well my husband is pretty self-sufficient (wink). So what is a girl to do, especially when she has a blog about crafting but has yet to post anything crafty on her site???
She changes the subject.... drastically!

Weight! It's the one thing that I despise. I just can't get motivation to do what I need to do, lose it! I know how, believe me, I've done it before, I was in the Army and I know what I need to do. It's just getting myself out of bed that I can't seem to do, and it seems like that would be the easiest part!

I can make an excuse for everything, life is too busy, I'm tired, I'm sick, I'm sick and tired, I have to do this, or that, I have no time, I'm not a morning person, my knee hurts, my back hurts, I have a migraine.... I'm sure I'm not the only one that complains but really, I can go on and on and I'm not sure why since the only one I'm hurting is myself. It's pathetic really... I'm smart about it really, I know the pros and cons and I know how to lose the weight.. and unfortunately I also know how to AVOID losing the weight.
So as always my number 1 New Year Resolution for 2011 is to lose weight, 40 pounds to be precise! I've gained these 40 pounds over about 5 years so I'm hoping to really get them off this year and keep them off! 
So step one to losing weight, join a gym...

Check! I joined Snap Fitness, close to home!

Step two to losing weight... GO TO THE GYM! I have yet to check that off since I've only been a member for less than 24 hours... Step three.... cut out sugars, for me this is a HUGE part of my downfall! I LOVE chocolate, I love cake, I love chocolate cake, cookies, ice cream, well you get the idea. Sugar is my BFF.
Step four... create a do-able schedule, which for me means I need to wake up at o'dark thirty to work out otherwise by the evening I have no energy to run or sweat or even think about running.
Step five.. which really should be step ONE, stop making excuses!

So since I skipped the gym this morning, I get to go home and make myself do this...


Last chance workout!!!! I {heart} Jillian... really I do..

So, while you all are enjoying the comforts of your couch, and dinner, and whatever else you do on Tuesday night, I will be working out.. then I will be watching the new episode of The Biggest Loser on tonight.
Just send some motivational thoughts my way, I need them.... BADLY!

Blog Candy?

Looks like Melissa over at Needful Things is giving away some awesome blog candy! Go over, say hello and repost the blog candy, the winner will be chosen on February 1, 2011. Good luck!

Here's what's included:

Complete Collection Kit for The Thrift Shop by October Afternoon
214 Piece Collection Kit of Apple Jack, by Sassafras
Autumn Leaves Scribbles Number stamp set
Autumn Leaves Scribbles Alpha stamp set
Autumn Leaves Talking in circles (boy) stamp set
Autumn Leaves Flower Stamps stamp set
Autumn Leaves Messy Dates stamp set

GREAT STUFF!

Crafting can be anything!

I really don't think that Crafting has a definition... I think of it as anything like handmade items, baking, painting, sewing, anything that you can think of and create. One of my goals for 2011 is to become a better baker, or a baker period... I bake when I have to, which means on Birthdays when I need a cake!  So I am reading up on baking, checking out the baking blogs and figuring out what exactly I want to learn first! I love all the different techniques and colors and there are sooooo many different things you can do, I'm always in awe of what I see in the blog world!
I mentioned her the other day for her art, and today her cake looked so good that I had to show you all. 

The delicious cake picture is from Goldiloks, isn't it amazing!

She also has some beautiful hand painted cookies on her blog today, so go check her out! I just want to dig in!
Next, she does cookies and cakes, and both are lovely. Today she's talking about a Valentine cake, decorated 3 ways, she goes through the process of each one and they might  be something I can do! :)


Go on over to I am Baker and enjoy all of her wonderful baking tips and ideas!

Ok, I don't know how many of you loved or even read Twilight series, but I avoided them as long as I could. I read a lot but I really wasn't interested in reading about vampires and such, but since the books got SOOOOO much hype, I gave in! This cake is the BEST cake that I have since in dedication to the books. If you google you will see.... there are more but this is by far GREAT!

It come from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen, I love this cake!

And if you love everything cookies and cupcakes you'll check out her blog for Tuesday's post! She shows her Cookie Cake Cupcakes! To... die.... for....
And if this cake is way too much for you... you can try to tone it down, and go with something not so crazy but still so wonderfully delicious!

Like these Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Chocolate Cream Cheese Filling from 17 And Baking.

So on that note.... I think I'm going to go grab dessert... umm I mean... LUNCH! :)

Tiny Hands deserve Tiny Gloves!

It usually doesn't get too cold in Albuquerque, we can usually go through the winter without using gloves, sometimes without wearing a beanie. This winter..... not the case, we've had one snowstorm, and the wind hurts my skin. Yesterday we woke up to 10 degree weather, highly unusual for us! I had to make sure the girls were warm going to school but really didn't anticipate it before so my Nevaeh, who is tinyyyy, had gloves about 5 sizes too big for her. Without having to run out to the store and buy some, I know they probably have some at the Dollar Tree but I had some in my hand, just the WRONG size.

So what do us crafters do? We make do with what we have, we fix it!

 Gloves.. huge gloves, first off, I love them because they are long enough around the wrist that they can put them under their shirt and no cold gets through, another reason I didn't run out and get some, because if you've ever shopped for tiny gloves, they end at the wrist and I don't like them.

 Even though she's smiling she's wondering what the heck is wrong with her gloves! They were a gift so we made them work.

Even though she makes them work, they don't fit at all!

So I turned them inside out, and had her try them on, marked with a red pen about where her fingertips were. I ended up having to do this twice because the first time I did them they were still too big.

 I ran the fingertips through the sewing machine on the lines... I know it looks crazy but they're inside out here so they look better, I promise.   I sewed them back and forth a few times, so when I cut the tips they wouldn't fray and end up with holes.

 This is still inside out, and this is about what I took off the tips and I even took some in on the side so they fit a little more snug around her wrist.  

This was after the first run through, I ended up going back and rounding off the edges more and fixing all the wonky tips. But look at how well they fit now! She loves them!

Excuse the cross-eyed look, my daughter refuses to look at someone in eye or look at the camera. LOL. They are a great fit though, and you can see how long they are, I love that, because she can fit it under her shirt and her wrist and forearm aren't cold!

Ta-da! Revamped gloves, and today she went to school with snug gloves on her tiny hands!

The Ugly Truth!

Get ready for a long, picture filled post... about..... my mess of a craft room. Be prepared! Be warned..
So, we moved into our new house about 6 years ago, and for the first few years I was really trying to get inspiration, motivation, anything to get my office/craft room done, but I was still going to college, pregnant, planning a wedding and working full time, not to mention taking care of my other two girls. Sooooo, I worked around the mess, I knew which pile had what and where I threw something... This is what it looked like! Sorry for the bad pics, it's been a while and I've since got a new camera.. bear with me.. :)

OH MY! I don't even know where to start... You can barely see the carpet color! My dear husband went desk shopping without me and decided that this desk... if you can see it... was the best fit for me! Um, NO! I had NOOOO drawers, no storage and you can basically see every cord, wire, etc. Basically it was a table, an expensive table that the store called a DESK! 

 This is coming straight into the door, those photo boxes are now all filled with photos. My Elvis photo is at my real work office, the blanket has been given to the gods and heaven knows where everything else is.

 A printer that rarely worked, a laptop that was slower than ever, old and heavy, but I finished my Masters degree on it, so apparently it did it's job. Cd's for who knows what, and I can't even see what else is on that desk!

Filing cabinet that is overflowing, a laundry basket full of empty frames, junk, junk and more junk. Oh and my itty bitty Cricut, I've since got the Expression which I love!
Ok... so after about 2 and a half years of dealing with this I finally finished school, got married, had a daughter and was finally able to get this room COMPLETE!

 A desk WITH DRAWERS! Can you believe it? What a concept! Glass top so I don't mess anything up with hot glue or I don't ruin the finish with the Xacto knife! :)

 I really love this desk, it has been great!

 This hutch with filing cabinet is great storage! the bottom two drawers is actually one big drawer for filing, so I can keep my actual papers in there safe and sound and filed! The other two are filled with construction paper, ribbon and various crafty items. The top, filled with everything from my Crop-A-Diles to buttons to glue and chipboard.

 My comfy chair, the desk and the hutch. LOOK! You can see the floor!

 This is the other desk/hutch in the works thanks to my father in law and my husband, I was kind enough to buy all this stuff and NOT pay the "put it together" fee at the store, so they got to enjoy putting it all together!

My bookshelf, which I wish I had more of, actually I wish me and the girls had our own library in our house. Yes, we read THAT much! My daughters have over 600 books on their own, I actually trade and get rid of mine so my collection isn't so bad but I love books!

NOWWWWW, for the worse part, my craft room NEVER stays that clean (above), so to prove that crafting is like a 24 hour thing, and that clean rooms like the ones I showed you yesterday aren't really reality unless you clean them to take pictures.... below is this morning at 6 a.m. This is the reality of my craft room!

 This is the top of the desk... I think... Yeah that's it, lovely right? WRONG! I have stuff on top of stuff it's so bad, my Ellen book waiting to be finished... more storage that's half empty half full, Cricut boards that I got at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago for half off! :) SCORE!

This is ridiculous I know! This has given me the name "Craft Hoarder" by my husband lately... I have run out of room and had to buy these lovely, non matching drawers. I really don't need the top three so I'm organizing, which is another reason it's a mess. So you can see my big drawers here have scrap paper, stamps, chipboard, letters, and the last one I'm not really sure.. :)

Oh don't mind these, they've only been laying there for about 2 weeks. There's about 14 of them, I plan on making something great with them... promise, it will help my life.. tremendously, and it will probably be the first crafty thing on here, if I can ever get over this sickness!

 The mighty bookshelf again, if you can see past the trash that is to be thrown in front of it. I know... HOARD... I'm trying, organizing for 2011, it's the plan.

 This is the other desk/hutch, computer house of course, the girls leave all their papers there, that Hard Rock shirt.. oh that's only been there since October.. no biggie, the little picture boxes were a Christmas gift from the girls, papers that need to be filed... I'm behind, I know!

Anyhow... there it is, in all it's glory, mess, junk, filing, trash, in reality it's probably not that bad but I have to get the motivation to get in there an tackle it.. Ok.. I'll do it tonight, right before Biggest Loser!

So, I hope this motivates you to 1, not hoard, and 2, clean up your space! :)

Monday Mourning....

Yes I said MOURNING! As in mourning for the loss of my creativity this weekend... So sad, I have been battling this head cold for about 2 weeks now and nothing has helped, and what's even better is that over the last 2 days I have managed to also lose my voice. Awesome!

So because I was in bed most of this weekend I thought I would talk about "Craft Spaces". Most of us can't afford or don't have the room for these ideal craft spaces, but I like to still look at them and they give me inspiration. So here are a few of my favorites! If you'd like to share yours link up!

This first one came from HGTV and the link took me nowhere so if it's your room, let me know and I'll give you credit. :)

First of all that wall color is something I would personally never choose but it looks FANTASTIC! I love the pop of red all over, the desk with window light sooooo close, the organization is great and everything is within reach.
This next one isn't the whole room but it's sooooo cute I couldn't resist showing.

Again, there was no link back to a site from Google Pictures so let me know if you know where it's from. The soft colors are gorgeous and that chair looks so comfy, I'm sure she created that seat herself. I am wondering though, when you have such a beautiful craft space... exactly how long does it look "picture perfect" because I know when I clean mine it's a matter of hours before it looks like a tornado hit! Right? :)
The next one is from SpacePlanner.com where you can go and virtually create your space.

This is ideal for my craft room, I would love this, I do a have a great space but this just seems more tidy, open, clean? Yeah you're right, mine wouldn't stay looking like this.

This one (Above) also with no link from Google, looks amazing! I love the open-ness with everything. The extra space on the island with the sewing machine is great! I'm not sure I would go with a tall barstool chair and table because I'm barely over 5 feet tall but the space is great and look at that huge window for great lighting! Ok... get ready because room 5 (below) is insane!

Insane in a good way of course!  In my next craft life, I want THIS ROOM! Look at all the storage! Paper all neatly in its place! This came from Kevin & Amanda and it's amazing.... swoon... It makes me happy..
This last one I found on Brooklyn Handspun and I'm unsure whether it's thier room or if it's the Ikea showroom, either way I love it and although I wouldn't use it for yarn I would definately be able to fill it with fabric and everything else :)

Sooooo, show us your craft space, whatever works for you, whatever is your ideal work space!
Check back tomorrow to see MY craft space, before and after I clean it! :) Yikes!

Man down! Man down!

Poor, poor pitiful me! I've been so sick! I am totally not making this launch of my new blog a great one am I? So sorry.....

I shall return, so long as this medicine kicks in and works!

In the meantime, happy crafting!

These are the ones I stalk.... regularly...

Since I'm still trying to get this blog up and running and getting some good traffic through here, I thought I'd post some interesting info, something you can use to blog hop to my favorite sites. You know... the ones I stalk on the regular.
For this first one, she is one of my VERY FIRST Blog Friends! She helped me sooo much a few years ago and I'm sure I was a pain in her behind in the beginning. But she is an awesome scrapbooker and you all need to head over and show her some love at Crazy for Crafting!  Thanks for friending me Carol!

You will love all her scrap pages and cards... she's great!

I love everything Blue Cricket does, and today they have a guest post by none other than Goldiloks!

She is uber crafty and artistic! You will love the work she does! Check her out!

And if you've never checked out the next one......

then you have NOOOOOO idea what you've been missing in the craft world!

So the next is one of the funniest ones I stalk on the regular, she is a great crafter, she is an inspiration for many things and she just joined Facebook, so go HERE and like her and go HERE to check out her blog!

She's pretty much just awesome..

Many times while I blog hop I am AMAZED at the stuff that some people come up with. If you need some of that amazement in your life... go check out Rosy Red Buttons not only is she crafty but she has guest posts by some amazing people!

For now, that's all I'm sharing, but believe me they will link you to some other great crafters and you'll be blog hopping all day! I on the other will be figuring out new ways to get your attention and get this blog up and running!
Happy Crafting today! Live well and craft often! :)

Your 2010 Favorite Craft!

I know you all are diving into your crafts for 2011 but I would love to see what your Favorite Craft of 2010 was!

Sickness be gone!

I'm trying slowly to get back into the groove of things and lose this head cold I've been hanging on to for no apparent reason. So I stayed home from work yesterday, drugged up and stayed in bed. I feel much better today but not 100%.

Anyhow I'm setting up my Facebook and Twitter pages so I can launch them all together and hopefully get some good traffic through here! 

In the meantime, keep on crafting, if you'd like to be featured on my blog or if you'd like to do a guest post please email me at Craftified@hotmail.com I see great things in our crafting future!

Happy New Year!

I had sooooo many plans for this "Kickoff" post! Yet, I FAIL! Miserably at that. I am sick, I am back to work, and there is no fun to be had right now. Being sick is no fun at all!

So until I get better and until I get all my design and settings done on this pretty little blog I shall be working on awesome ideas to share with you and pictures and all that jazz. You will love it! I hope, anyway, otherwise my feelings will be deeply hurt. :(

So without further ago! HAPPY NEW YEAR and HAPPY NEW BLOG! 

YAY for being CRAFTIFIED! :)