Weekend in Review

Our weekend

Spending time with family
Son home for the weekend from college
Going out to eat
Watching scary movies together
Raking lots and lots of leafs

Finally

Finally got our pumkins craved.  Didn't know if we were going to make it.  So much is going on in the house that we didn't have a chance to crave them until last night.   I think they turned out really cute.

Projects, Projects everywhere

I think I need to take a break from Pinterest for awhile, because I came up with yet another project that I would love to do.   My list of projects is growing so much but how can I pass this one up???  From Brassyapple blog.

Looks like I'll be going by Good Will again looking for some sweaters.   Oh and Brassy Apples has a step by step tutorial how to make these pillows just click on the above link for instructions.

Remember I wanted to try this project out too.  Well I found a much easier process to achieve the same results.  I have all my material to start this project , all I have to do is get my pictures sized and take them to get them printed on a laser copier.  Ink jet copies won't work.

I have seen these Styrofoam cones covered in fabric for years and have always wanted to make a set of them for myself.  I finally have all the material to make these too.  

I am in the middle of this cute wreath too.  Didn't think that it was going to take that long to make, boy was I wrong stay tune to see the finish results.

Needless to say with all these projects up in the air my craft room is a mess.   I can't work like that so in the mist of working on a few of these projects I will have to declutter my mess in there.


Carrie

My Top five Organizing Tips

Top five organizing tips

1. Make a daily to-do list and follow it.

I'm a list maker.  Yes I get pleasure from crossing things off my list.  It gives me a sense of accomplishment.  Also, it helps me prioritize what needs to get done right now.  Every time I start my list for the next day I always ask myself if I only can get to one thing today what's the most important thing I need to do. 

2. Have a place for everything.

Try to store things near where you use them and store similar things together. For things that are used in more than one place such as light bulbs, paper towel, cleaning products I usually get duplicate items and keep them where I use them.  For example I have two cleaning baskets that holds all my bathroom cleaning products one for upstairs and one downstairs.  That way I have things there when I need it.

3. Make a cleaning schedule.

Each day of the week I have assigned a cleaning task and I have a monthly list for things that are not needed to be cleaned every day.  Divide your home up into zones and list everything that needs to be done and then assign a day to do those cleaning task.   Here's a peek into my cleaning schedule

Monday's -  Dusting (dust everything upstairs and downstairs,  Run errands (dry cleaning, post office and etc).

Tuesday's - Vacuum the entire upstairs rooms.

Wednesday's -  Vacuum/sweep/mop the entire downstairs.

Thursday's -  Empty all the waste basket through out the house, Laundry

Friday's -  Clean all the bathrooms in the house.

Saturday's -  Change all the linens.

Sunday's - Meal planning and organize coupons, make a grocery list

 Every day tasks:  Clean off counter tops, swish all the toilets, clean dishes, sort through mail, pick up clutter,  clean sinks.

Since using this schedule I have been able to manage my cleaning tasks and I am less overwhelmed.  Plus I don't mind when the door bells rings when I wasn't expecting anyone.

4. Clean as you go.

This is a great habit … instead of having big cleaning binges, clean things as you go. Done using some dishes? Wash them right away. Clean the toilet when you finish using it, so it never gets dirty.

My dream Landing stripe.

5. Create a landing strip.

Have a place set up so that each family member has a place to put things as soon as they come through the door.  Have somewhere for kids to put back packs, paper work, shoes, coats, keys, and etc. This way it doesn’t get tossed on our counter or table, and we never have to look for it or forget it when we leave because it's in their landing strip.

Storyology with Ali Edwards

Just got finished with Ali Edward's newest on-line class called Storyology.  What a great way to spend my morning.   I love stories - I love to hear them - I love to read them and I would love to tell more of them through my scrap booking.  

I have a confession to make.  I am one of those scrapbooker that love the creative process of scrap booking.  Always looking for new techniques to do, new products to use.  I love scrap paper, so much so that I have been known to buy paper and say oh I can't use it, it's to pretty.

Come on you know we all do that right?

The one thing I always felt lacking in my scrap pages was the story.  What's going on in that picture, why are we here, how does that picture make me feel these questions lead to the meat (for a lack of a better word) of our daily life.

I claim to be an observer of my family life but with out putting what I observed into words and then into a story what good  is all the observation I'm doing?

Not much ....

Well that is going to change after today.   I have tons of stories to tell and now after taking Ali's Storyology class I am no longer going to let fear, procrastination hold me back.  Moving forward my stories will be told.

After all why are we scrapping for if not to capture a glimpse of what's going on today.

If you have a moment please go to Ali's website and check out the description of this class.  It might change how you feel about how you are scrap booking now.  (you can just click on the Storyology banner in the right column of my blog to get to Ali's page).  I know it did for me. 

I have always been a fan of Ali Edwards.  She has a style all her own, theories about scrap booking that I want to adopt for myself.   I feel really thankful that I stumbled upon this class because not only will it help me with scrap booking but I can see so much more ways that I can adapt what she taught in this class in my every day life.  

Happy Scrapping!

Carrie

Thanksgiving Decorations for only $5.00

Happy Thanksgiving Pillows

Here is a good way to make decorative holiday pillows reasonably.   I stopped by my local Good Will store and I picked up a men's suit jacket and two button down shirt to  make these pillows.  It was a fast and easy project. 

Materials

Fabric
Men's suit (bought at Good Will for $1.00)
button's (actually I took the buttons off the suit)
Men's button down shirt (bought at Good Will)
Pillow stuffing
thread
tacky glue

Can you believe this only cost me $1.00

I made a pattern of two circles and one tear drop shape and trace it onto the fabric

I used tacky glue to tack the fabric down so I could so it down to pillow front

And here's the finish product.  The pillow in the back was made from button down shirt.
The Turkey pillow was made from men's suit and some extra stripped fabric I had
I also used I white button down shirt to sew the turkey onto.

Again all together this project cost me $5.00 and I got four pillows from one men's suit jacket and two men's button down shirts.  

This post was linked to: Today's Creative Blog, Sew Chatty, Not Just a Housewife

Weekend in Review

Weekend in Review

My daughter's team played their last game of the season this Saturday.  I am so proud of her and all of her accomplishments.  She has improved so much this season and had fun doing it too.  The girls all got along very well and were very supportive to each other.  Her coaches were so great this year.  I think all of the girls had fun and learned a lot from them.  Here's hoping we are all back together next year.

This weekend my family and I were on the hunt for the Great Pumpkin himself. 

Our hunt took us to a small pumpkin patch near our house.

We received an anonymous tip that the Great Pumpkin would show up here today

So I made sure to put my best two hunters on the case to find him.

I have to say there for a while I didn't think we were going to be able to find him.

But he wasn't any match to my two hunters who easily found him amongst his fellow pumpkins.

They grabbed him and took him to the nearest cashier

After paying his finder fee, my hunters gathered him up and headed to the car.

Then it was on to the next case for my two hunters.

Christmas Organizing

Christmas is such a special time of year for me.  With all the presents, the parties, the Christmas cards and we can not forget the holiday baking.   They all add to the special time of year, but they also can bring stress.  In the past I used to be frazzled by the time December 24th  came around.  I was cranky and felt rushed.  That is until I started making my own Christmas Planner.   It is important to get yourself organized so you can enjoy the holidays and not feel so stress out over them.  A Christmas organizer or binder is one way to do this.  They store your Christmas card records, present records and party menus so you have them all in one place.

There are so many ways to go about making your own planner like I do each year.  For instance try to make a binder out of a composition book like this one or the one pictured below.

Source

You can do a binder like I do.  Just grab some special Christmas scrapbook paper and decorate a 1 1/2'' binder add some dividers.   Like this

Source

When I started making my binders I used to go to Christmas Planner. com  to get all my free downloadable  forms to fill my binder.  I don't think I will ever go back to the days of not having a binder.  It's so nice to have everything in one place.   Happy Organizing

Carrie

Picture That Thursday

Captured on NIKON DSL D500

Wait - Is that Me???

I am so excited !  I won a spot in Scraphic Design: Core class with Tiffany Tillman from Cathy Zielske's.   I had to take a double take when reading the winners, because I usually never win anything.  It felt so good to see my name announce.   Just to walk you through my thought process while reading the winner announcement.

source

First winner's name: Erin who won Katrina Kennedy's workshop.  My reaction " Oh how nice for her".

Second winner's name : Carrie won Scraphic Design Core class.  My reaction " Oh wow someone has the same name as me.  Wait a minute I think that is me, no it couldn't be me I never win,  Oh wait I think it is me I remember writing that comment, but is it really me.   OMG it is me.  

You get the picture right.   I want to thank both Cathy and Tiffany for their generosity.  I am so excited and looking forward to it.


Carrie

Weekend in Review

Romance is the word for this weekend.  Just got back from celebrating our wedding anniversary.

Picture That Thursday.

FALL

Taken with my Nikon D 500 DSL Camera

Everything has a Place

Today I am here to share with you some organization tips that work for my family.

There is help out there

I love to be organized.  I love the sense of being in control especially when it comes to my home.  I wish I could say that I always felt that way but sadly that wasn't the case for me.   I struggled to keep my house clean and organized.  That's until that one day that I came across a website called Fly Lady. 

It's a website that gives you tips on how to organize and clean your house.   I used to wait and clean my whole house on the weekends which was sometimes a very overwhelming feeling.   I learned that if you divide your home into zones and assign your cleaning chores a specific day things were less overwhelming. 

In the beginning I used to follow the Fly Lady's rules to the "T" but that is not the case any more I have moved on and made my own schedules.   Looking back now I am so glad that I found her website.

Everything has a  Place and There is a Place for Everything

Do you have a certain place in your house that it seems that your family loves to dump and run.  What I mean is a place where things just accumulates for no apparent reason.    Well I do.  That place is the built in desk in my kitchen.   It's next to my refrigerator and it seems to be a very fond place for my family to dump things on and forget about them especially paper work. That's until I found this.

I found this at Target and it's has helped me cut down on all the paper that comes into my house on daily basis.   This has magnets on the back of it so I bought two of these and hung them on my refrigerator.  Each person has a slot and when paper work starts piling up on my desk.  I can easily sort the paper work by person.   Sounds great right but I didn't stop there.  I made a rule that each Friday each person needed to empty their slots and now my desk is no longer a dumping ground.


Hope these tips can help.

Carrie

Halloween decorating Inspiration

Looking for some Halloween decorating inspiration?    Well here was my dilemma.

 

Boring right?  I need something to spruce up this side of my porch for Halloween.  So while looking on line for some inspirations I came across the neat blog call Chapman Place and came across these cute pillows.

I knew once I saw these I had to try to make them for myself.  So off  I went to Jo Ann Fabric to pick up some cute fabric.  Oh and by the way on Chapman Place she has a step by step tutorial on how to make the above pillows.   Here is a list of supplies you will need for this project.

List of Materials Needed for this Project

Fabric (I got about a yard of each fabric)

Matching thread

Pillow forms/stuffing

Krylon Glitter Spray

Tacky Glue

Cricut Machine/or some type of Die Cutter

I followed the instructions for the Trick or Treat pillow off of Chapman Place blog, but the only thing I changed up was for the Boo pillow.   I cut the letters for Boo out of left over black fabric I had laying around on my Cricut machine.  I suggest that when you cut fabric on your Cricut to put your speed setting on low, pressure setting on high, and your blade on six.   Here how they turned out.

Cute right?  I suggest if you have time to check out Chapman Place, she has a whole bunch of fun projects over there that I know you will love.

Well Happy Halloween decorating everyone.

Carrie

This post was linked to:  Todays Creative Blog , Sew Chatty, Not Just a Housewife

Weekend in Review

Fall is here!  Our time is spent on soccer fields and spending time with family

I found my next Project

While skimming through my Pinterest I came across this idea that I would love to try.   Making your own canvas pictures.   This idea came from a very talent lady named Sarah you can find her HERE. She has a step by step tutorial on how to make these canvas pictures at home using tissue paper.  I can't wait to try this one.   In May I added a photo wall in my hallway upstairs and I think this project would fit in nice up there.   I will post my results soon so stay tune.

Carrie

Just being Silly

True Story:

Yesterday was my usually errand day, picking up things, dropping things off.  So during my rounds of picking up things I stopped at my local Family Dollar store.   I don't know why but every time I get to the registered to pay for my things I get so excited that everything is a DOLLAR.   I know that lately stores haven't been keeping large inventories since the economy is the way it is.   Chances are that there will be time I go to the store to find out they have run out of things but imagine my surprise when I got to my Family Dollar store yesterday to find out that they ran out of  ??   wait for it ....

DOLLARS  

I went through the store and picked all of my items and took them to the cash register to pay for them. The young girl checked me out and gave me my total due ($13).   I dug in my wallet and pulled out a ten and five dollar bill and handed it to her.  When I looked up from putting my wallet back in my purse she had a horrible expression on her face so I asked her what was wrong and she said that she couldn't give me my change back.   When I asked why she said they ran out of dollars.   I said to her, but you're the dollar store.  With that everyone who was behind me and the cashier started to laugh.

Carrie

Blogging Tips

Since I decided to redo my blog I've been in search of blogging tips.  I have come across a couple sites that helped me out so much and I wanted to pass them on to you. 

The first Blog is -  Sneaky Momma Design

It has a lot of step by step instructions.  My favorite tutorial of hers is this one that shows you how to make your own picture header.  You really should check this site out if you are considering changing or even moving your blogs.

The second Blog I found very helpful is - Blogging with Amy

You can spend an entire day looking at all her helpful tips on her site.   Not only does she give you advise on how to build your blog but she gives advice on how to make money with your blog, building a following on your blog and much more.   You're not going to believe this but today on Today's Creative Blog she will be hosting a question and answer session regarding blog tips.  So if you  have time you should consider checking her out here.


There are many more blog sites that I used but these are definitely my favorites.

Carrie

Welcome

 

I just wanted to take the time to welcome everyone to my new blog. I've been blogging for a few years now on Carrie's Craft Room ( you can find it here). I've decided that I wanted a new look to my blog and more structure to it. I wanted a blog that will share with all of you all of my interested (photography, organization, scrapbooking, sewing, card making, decorating and knitting) and not just my crafts I've made. I'm not abandoning my crafts you will still see them on here, but I want to add more content to this blog. So welecome everyone and let's begin our new journey with Creative Home.

Carrie