clean and purge

For the past couple of months I've been trying to clean and purge my apartment. I have too much stuff. Craft stuff included. It's been super slow going. I've been having trouble getting motivated. I try to work on it a little bit at a time, but then I get side tracked by the blog reading/instagram/twitter/facebook/candy crush/etc. I swear it all multiplies. I get rid of one pile and five more pop up. I tried to throw away one bag of trash every time I leave my apartment, but I got a bit bored with that (I do throw out the trash regularly still, I just quit dealing with the extra stuff to take down).


I'm gonna try again. I have a huge project that I'm hoping to start on in September/October (more about that soon) that will get along a lot easier if I have all my space back and all the extra mess gone. By the way, how does one person accumulate so much extra stuff? I cancelled all my subscription boxes and I don't really buy clothes/shoes. How is it all breeding?


I had planned to try to sell some of my scrapbooking and stamping supplies, but I think at this point it's going to be much easier to just donate all the things I'm not using. Trying to sell it requires picture taking, description writing and creating all those posts on all the different websites. I don't feel like I have the time or want to deal with the headache, even though it would be nice to have some extra money.


Wish me luck. It'll be a big undertaking. I hope everything finds a good home. Also, that quilt top on the table/chair is finished. It was for a baby shower that recently took place. I wish I'd thought to take pictures of it before I sent it off.

stopping in and that grumpy cat

First off, have you seen Tard the Grumpy Cat on the interwebs yet? I don't know what it is about him, but I think he's adorable and I wish he were mine. He might be grumpy, but he definitely makes me smile.

Okay, enough about him. So I haven't been around much the last couple of weeks. I'm still in a little bit of a crafting funk. I've been doing some crocheting daily, but nothing I've wanted to document. Pretty much just stuff for the shop. I have a couple of new ideas in mind, but even the crocheting is slow going.

I can't remember the last time I did any sewing. Maybe last week? And those cards I'm supposed to be working on? I got some of the card stock picked out and cut, but that's about it. (I really work better with a deadline.) I think in order to get out of this funk I need to do a little bit every day. Maybe 15 minutes here and 15 minutes there until I get to the point where I don't want to walk away from a project. I'm hoping that will work. Now I just need to figure out where to start.

In other news, there's still a hole in my ceiling. The leasing office tells me that there are only two contractors in this city that are able to fix that hole and they're waiting for bids. I don't expect to see that hole fixed any time soon. That just makes me want to move more.

I went to check out an apartment last week Friday and they had nothing available for 60 days. This was after I called them and they said come in and check out what we have. *deep heavy sigh* There is another place I plan to check out next week. I plan to call and ask a few more questions before I actually visit the office.

You'll probably start seeing destashing posts from time to time as I pack up my things. I don't want to lug all my stuff to a new place if it's stuff I don't use much anymore. Probably a lot of scrapbooking/stamping things. If you're interested in anything, let me know. If you know anyone that might be interested in my supplies, send them my way. I'd really appreciate it.

That's about all I have right now. I will be working all weekend and they will be full days since we're gearing up for the holidays. I need to attack this 100 Day Hustle list so hopefully I can get a little bit of crafting done this weekend. I'll back Thursday for sure as it will be my day on the Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop. I hope to get a tutorial posted. Wish me luck.

Have a great weekend!

crochet, crochet, crochet

All that time off from work produced these and a bunch of ideas for other things.

These yarn fuzzies and other goodies are for homespun and are headed their way today. Yay! I need more yarn now. My stash has pretty much been depleted. I'm almost considering buying some neon yarn, but how much longer will the trend last?. I'm glad the weather is cooling down so these are now weather appropriate it. Unless you live somewhere where it doesn't really get cold.

Any suggestions on colors for fall and winter?

Also, after seeing this gif for too long I don't think I ever want to make a gif again. I thought this would be fun, but um...no.

reduce, reuse, recycle

I was changing a sticker roll at work the other day and was looking at the empty roll like, I KNOW there's something I can use this for, so I put it on my wrist so I'd remember to take it home at the end of my shift. (Later I wrote the time on it like a digital clock and showed my supervisor and told him it was time to go home and he told me to get out. Ha!)

While I was waiting to get off of work a light bulb went off, binding storage. I have very little space to store all my sewing goodies and figured I could wrap my binding around the roll and then hang it on a nail in the wall until I was ready to use it. Smart right? And I think it keeps it from getting any kind of wrinkles in the fabric, not that that really matters after it gets sewn on. But hey, whatever.

fabric for binding is Lucy's Crab Shack by Sweetwater for Moda, ain't it purdy.

Linking up with Plum & June's Let's Get Acquainted Monday Link Up.

pardon the mess

If you don't follow this blog through a reader I apologize for the constant change in background and colors. I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing here and I can't decide. There are a lot of blogs who's designs I love and might eventually break down and hire someone to design my blog. But for now I'm just gonna keep on playing with it and see what I can learn as I go.

Father's Day is about a month away. I would like to sell just as many Father's Day cards as I did Mother's Day cards. I need to change gears and start thinking about different colors and manly embellishments. I don't think the Dads dig flowers and hearts the same way Moms do.

I came home to a consignment check today from fabricate in Cincinnati. That's my kind of mail. I also received notice of a consignment payment from homespun. *does a two step through this blog post*

Anywho, I need to eat. Fancy grilled cheese. This time hopefully I don't burn my fingers on my Foreman grill. I'ma smart one I am.

{recipe} cream cheese frosting

My first attempt at cream cheese frosting. I think the frosting was to moist. I had to put it in the freezer for a bit so it would be easier to frost the cupcakes. It tastes pretty good though. I think I will try another recipe next time or make something up.

I also wanted to try out my newly made white box. Works pretty good, though I think there may be something wrong with my camera as the pictures were coming out darker today than they did the other evening.

I didn't get as much done today as I would've liked. I have the rest of the evening to work, though I'm feeling quite tired. Bleh.

Anyone want a cupcake? There are 18 left and it's just me here.

Cream Cheese Frosting

     8 oz cream cheese (room temprature)
     8 oz or 1 stick unsalted butter (room temprature)
     1 cup powdered sugar
     1 tsp vanilla

Fold together cream cheese and butter. Sift in powdered sugar and mix thoroughly. Add vanilla.

11 Ways to Be More Positive

 via Tumblr

★ Spend some time taking stock of all the influences in your life. This includes friends, family, television shows, magazines, blogs, etc. Think about which aspects of your life motivate you and push you to live positively for yourself. Think about those aspects that pull you down and drain you of your positive energy. Spend less time around the negative influences and more time around the positive!

★ Set aside more time for yourself where you can be alone. Sometimes it is easy to become depressed and grumpy when you give all of your energy to others. Having scheduled “you” time will guarantee that you will be able to pamper yourself and participate in your favorite hobbies.

★ Try changing your perspective about situations. Sometimes that is all it takes to turn a crummy day around. I try very hard to find something positive that will come out of the crappy things that daily life deals us. It doesn’t always happen naturally, but it gets easier when you push yourself to see the good in life.

★ Have friends and family in your life who can cheer you up and encourage you to be positive when you fall down. It’s inevitable that you will have a bad day, stress attack, or an emotional melt down in the future. It happens. The difference between you and a negative person is that you have the courage to get back up and keep going. We all need to be reminded that life really can be amazing if we take the time to see things positively.

★ Fill your space with reminders of how wonderful your life is. Write your favorite encouraging quotes on colorful post-its and paste them around your home.

★ Write letters and cards to your close friends and family with positive wishes and joyful greetings! Spreading positivity helps you feel positive in general!

★ Encourage the people in your life who take on pessimistic attitudes to be more positive. If those people are not willing to hear you out, limit your time around them. Negativity is very draining and you can only be around it for so long before it takes over.

★ Get excited about the little things that make you happy!

★ If you are feeling down and depressed, own your feelings. Don’t deny that you are grumpy. Accept that you aren’t feeling 100% and give yourself time to just be.

★ De-clutter your life! Get rid of things that you don’t love, things that you never use, and things that aren’t sentimental to you. Clutter can weigh you down and fill your life with unnecessary negative energy ! Make room for new things that you adore!

★ Channel your inner child every so often. Do things that the child within you would love! Blow bubbles, ride the merry-go-round, drink chocolate milk, play hop scotch, color, take photos of random objects, play dress-up, etc.

Every Color of the Rainbow

This post was supposed to be about a piece of art that I traded for a polar bear hat with another etsy artist, but my leasing office decided to close early yesterday and just not open today so my package is being held hostage.

Instead I’m sharing a picture of the new shoes I received in the mail today. And the Army men that are conquering them.

Enjoy.