Thankful 30: Part 1

#1 God's Word

# 2 Sharpies and Moleskins

# 3 The Freedom to Homeschool

# 4 Smart, Healthy, Loving and Hilarious Boys

# 5 A Devoted, Sacrificing, and Supportive Husband

#6 abundance

# 7 turtles

# 8 cappuccino

# 9 fun money

Therapy

I know I have been MIA quite a bit lately. I've felt a bit like I need a padded room and maybe some magic happy pills but I had a long talk with [my wonderful] husband and I am feeling better about it all. I don't have one overwhelming stressor, I have a hundred small ones. I know the first rule of being a mom is to never compare yourself or your children to anyone else but it is hard not to. I have friends with real issues; divorce, children with special needs, deployed husbands, single parenting, cancer. I do realize how truly blessed we are. And sometimes I don't feel like I have any room to complain about things. So, occasionally I have a melt down because I don't have the release of stress. I was ready to sign myself into a nice cooshy funny farm. But my [wonderful] husband reminded me that I need to take some time for myself. I am constantly under stress of some kind from some direction and I was never giving myself a break. Therefore breakdown ensued. I cried, I yelled, I shut down.

"Abundance"

I prayed... a lot. And after talking to my [wonderful] hubs I felt so much better. We talked about me getting back to the things I love and having some Emily-time daily. I could take a bubble bath or have some crafting time or reading. Something that allows me to turn off and not have to think. I put on my big girl panties and moved on. The next day I got out my new (I have never painted before) acrylic paint set and painted for about 4 hours while the boys watched Leapfrog and Dinosaur Train. Sometimes we really do need the electronic babysitter. And therapy of some kind, whether you talk to someone or just get those emotions on paper. You'll feel better. Do it.
So this is my first ever painting. If anyone wants to buy it just message me. :)

Week 1: Making Your Home a Haven

Please go visit Courtney at Women Living Well to learn more about this wonderful challenge.
I went to the store and purchased a candle. Apparently candles are not that popular in Mexico City, unless you want a picture of a saint on it. But I finally found one in the Christmas items!

Here it is... Boring.
You know I couldn't just leave it that way! Here is the final product (super duper easy tutorial below)!

Now that is more like it! Go down and see how easy it is to make your own family candle!

“The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.”

Use tissue paper! Yep, tissue paper. Trim it to the height and circumference of your candle. I try not to overlap it at the seam, if anything I'd rather have an opening. You won't really see it. You can try using other colors of tissue paper, as well. 

These are my favorite colors, Chocolate Chip, Not Quite navy and silver.

This is one of my favorite stamp sets! Refuge and Strength from Stampin' Up!

You can stamp as little or as much as you like. A big background stamp would also be great for this. 

Lay your candle down lay the tissue paper on the candle.

With a heat gun or hot blow dryer, start in the middle of your tissue paper and heat it. You will be able to see the wax liquefy  Don't leave it too long or your paper can burn and the wax can make a mess. Just long enough for the wax to get soft and adhere to the paper. Continue from the center and go back to the seam. I go around the top of the paper and bottom to make sure they are smooth against the wax, use the heat gun.

Some great quotes. 

And some ribbon to finish it.
SUPER DUPER EASY!
Let me know if you have any questions! 

This morning I went to light my candle and cannot believe it, but I do not have anything to light it with! Gonna try the gas stove. WOW! It is Monday!

More Art Scripture Journal

The words are from Angela at Good Morning Girls.

Psalm 46:1

Names of our Father

Scripture Art Journal

My new found love (and time-sucker) is Pinterest! I have found some amazing inspiration for crafts, projects I want to do when we have our own home and great stuff for the kids and cooking, too. Something that really inspired me was a beautiful Scripture Journal that The Redheaded Hostess created. But I also fell in love with this Daily Art Journal on Write.Click.Scrapbook. I found both (and so many more) on Pinterest and the link will take you to the original post. So, anyway this is the first page "Faith" in my Scripture Art Journal that combines both ideas.

 You know you want to!

Easy Peasy Bookmarks

Easiest tutorial ever!
24 inches of ribbon (this is 5/8" grosgrain)
cute little charms
scissors and hot glue
Ready? Pull the ribbon through ring on the charm so that there is equal length on each side. Hot glue it with a little dot of glue pretty close to but not touching the ring. Squeeze it together (be careful! it is hot!) until it cools. Perfecto! Easy gifts or party favors!

Words From the Wise

"You were placed on this earth to create not to compete." - Robert Anthony


Today's quote borrowed from Inspired To Action!

Soap: Take 1

I have been looking into making soap for a while but wasn't quite sure where to start. I was browsing on eBay and found some great kits for soapmaking! I received my kit and a few days later I was ready to make some soap and a big mess. This is the kit that I purchased. Everything I needed was included, other than something to melt in and stir with. I ordered a couple books that came highly recommended and found a few websites to help me figure out the chemistry of soap making. Stay tuned...

soap base, dye, oils, scents, powdered milk, dried herbs, vitamin e... all I need to get started.

My makeshift double boiler.

Melting down, added color, scent and green tea leaves.

Poured into molds. The one on the left is still in the mold... a week later.  Lots of trial and error.

My first soap loaf our of the mold! This one has dried calendula. 

I cut the loaf into smaller pieces and it is curing. These are sample sized, planning on letting a few friends try them out so they can give me some honest opinions.  

This is one of the books I ordered.
Have you ever made soap? Tips and encouragement are welcome!

Words From the Wise

"I think that all creative people are a little bit nuts." -Dolly Parton 

Mixbook!

I am super excited about this website that I just found. Someone mentioned it on Facebook and I had to check it out. They offer great photobooks, cards and calendars. You can upload pictures from any of the big photosharing sites, even Facebook. There is no software download required to scrapbook online. And, best of all, the prices are totally reasonable. Cheaper than ordering the prints and a scrapbook to put them in. This site is for the scrapbooking inept all the way through professional! You can even do complete pages on your computer and upload them for printing. Easy! Guess this means I can't put it off any longer! 

Being Digitally Creative

A few people have asked questions about how to make blogs and blog designs. I have no idea! Follow an online tutorial! Really, that is what I do. It takes a lot of time! My re-design was about 6 solid hours (including new buttons and everything).
My #1 tip is to play around with some digital scrapbook stuff. You need some kind of software to do this, I use CS4 but you can use whatever you want. I think GIMP is a free program and maybe Paint, too. Never used these. I was using Photoshop Elements, which is a lot cheaper that CS4, to edit photos and that is how all this craziness started. Anyway, find something to practice in. Play around with layout and sizing, make some scrapbook pages and then order prints. I found that Costco has 12x12 prints for $2.99 and shipping is reasonable. And you're killing two birds with one stone, scrapbooking and designing your own blog! Use some of the tools in your software and learn your way around a bit. Then find a specific tutorial for what you want to do. I have listed a few of my favorites...

• Add a signature to each post. from Kevin and Amanda.
• Make a scrapbooky blog background. from Kevin and Amanda.
• How To Make Your Own Blog Background. from The Cutest Blog On The Block.
• Free Blogger Backgrounds from The Cutest Blog On The Block.
• Freebies from Kevin and Amanda. 
• Digi-scrap Freebies from computerscrapbook.com
• More Digi-scrap Freebies from DigiScrapDepot.
• Free 6 Month Photoshop Course (+tons more!) from creativetechs.com .

These are not ads, I get nothing for sharing this awesomeness with you. Please share your blogs, scrapbook pages and digital creations, so that I will feel some satisfaction from this post. I love helping people learn to be more creative!


One other thing, always check the copyright information on your free downloads, you can usually use them for personal use at no charge but you can't sell designs made with them unless you pay for that. 

DONE

I have finished my re-design! I'm sure there are some older posts that need the font color updated but I am done for the day. I have a new blog button, be sure to update and add it to your blog! Let me know what you think. Seriously. Was it better before? I hope not, this took ALL day!

<center><a href="http://1creativedisaster.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx307/creativedisaster78/2011blogbutton.gif" /></a></center>

2011 Journal

I have accepted a few challenges (more info to come) this year and I need a new journal to keep track of everything. I made this composition book a little more me. It is simple and was super easy to make. I used 2 pieces of 12x12 designer paper from Stampin' Up! and two 8 1/2x11 pieces for the inside. Threw in a bookmark and a monogram (corrugated paper) and voila! A new journal. I guess I could've done a bit more of a tutorial here but it was too easy. Cut the paper, glue it on. If you want a bookmark use sticky strip under the paper to adhere it before you glue the paper down. I used sticky strip for the pocket and the monogram, too. Any questions, let me know. This would also be great with a spiral notebook from the dollar store with an ugly cover. 

I was too lazy to edit this, just turn your head, okay? 

I like to have a little pocket inside for prayers requests or odds & ends. 

Christmas Crafting

We have been making some Christmas crafts! Joshua made a frame and an ornament.
Nikolas was really excited and made two frames and two ornaments.
I just love these faces! and their fuzzy noses. Too cute. I ordered the craft kits from eBay but they are originally from Oriental Trading.

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving Day 30

30. I am thankful for crafty, inspirational and, most of all, sweet friends! (like this one!!)

I did a very spontaneous swap with my {IRL} friend over at Dandelion Days! You can see what I sent her in this post. So, I just started crocheting and am totally loving it! I found this pattern and while I do have a sewing machine, I don't even know if it works! So, I sent the link to Sheena and she offered to make me one! I love it! And she even included matching yarn that is super soft compared to the cheap junk I've been using. Thanks Sheena! I love my crochet hook holder!!