what's your motto?

For quite a while now I have been admiring all kind of these canvases all over blog world.

I had been wanting to create one but I didn't have a place to put it, not only because I do not have a home of my own (I feel like Virginia Woolf - longing for a room of my own!) but also because I do not yet have my own family to have "family rules" for. Then this past week I was setting up my classroom. I thought I would share one of of the projects I completed with you. These are my class rules, if you will, though I have titled it "Our Motto." I like to keep them simple, brief, easy to remember. Even though I am teaching 1st grade I don't think children need to be dumbed down. I expect them to act like people, and treat others like people. So my rules for my class are exactly what a day-to-day life motto should be. Don't you think the world would be a little better if we all followed these rules?

check out the old school, literally, paper and stickers in the background!

go see where I have linked this post:

it's a brand new day

Here I am, as promised. So, after I wrote my little blurb last night, I looked at the date and found it kind of ironic - it may not have been February 12th (my birthday), but it was still a 12th. Guess it's just my number like I had always thought. In keeping with that, I'm going to let you learn a little bit about me, through pictures -- not pictures of me, but pictures of my crafts. And maybe if you're lucky someday I will even show you how to do some of them. OR you can let me know what you want to learn how to do, because trust me, I am bursting at the seams here (ha, corny yes, but no pun intended!).

As I mentioned in my 1st post back in September I was about to become an Aunt. Well, I poured my heart and soul into that baby shower - excuse me, the baby shower that wasn't very "baby!" There wasn't pink or blue, there was beer - but tasteful. Let me show you what I mean:

That was the invite I did - nothing baby-ish, nothing gender specific. Not bad, huh?! And I'm not even a pro with graphic design.

 

The decor: see those flowers, each one handmade by me, out of paper. On the little table there are poppies, and then notice the buffet (yes it's fried chicken) but also some giant handmade sunflowers. The kits for the flowers came from The Paper Source but you could very easily make a pattern of your own. In fact, I just may and upload it here. And then there are the parents admiring the scrapbook that was literally 9 months in the making. I'll have to get some better pictures for you because it is truly a masterpiece.

Then my niece arrived, and of course everyone had to have a shirt - so there I went with Photoshop again. With the help of a great place here in Atlanta - Atlanta Contract Embroidery - every Aunt, Uncle, and Grandparent had one with their name on it. That's my Dad admiring his first grandchild. 

I have to show you the welcome home sign I made for my niece. It's still hanging over her crib today! 

I'm SO very pleased with how this came out! And I'm SO very honored that it hasn't been taken down yet. 

Okay, now I am moving on, if you haven't gotten bored yet. 

Here are just a few Valentine/Winter goodies. I got my inspiration from a few of my favorite blogs...

Well, it doesn't snow so often here in Atlanta, but on my birthday it sure did! So the next morning my 5 year-old cousin and I built a snowman. I don't know how well you can see the great detail. But this scarf was a great, easy fleece project I found at Creative Jewish Mom.

While I fully do give Creative Jewish Mom credit for the scarf idea, I like to think I was pretty onto my game even back in my college days when we had our craft nights. Check out my pink and brown blanket my friends used as the decor for my surprise birthday party. I made that one all on my own before I ever knew about blogs. But I had never even thought to do a scarf. So, thanks Creative Jewish Mom. I love new friends and ideas! 

And this heart...well, I have a love/hate relationship with Valentine's Day. I have no problem with the actual day. Tell people you love them, care about them - fine. You don't have to have a boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, or even significant other in order to do this. I'm one of those who is of the opinion that you can tell your friends and your family how much you care and how important they are to you. However, I also believe that you don't need a specific day. Thus, my real problem with Valentine's is that it interferes with my birthday. Call me selfish if you must, but there are always crowds at restaurants and special priced menus. It's just ridiculous. I've actually decided that next year, I'm going to pick a random weekend and go the whole Alice in Wonderland route and do a "A Very Merry Unbirthday to Me" and then I won't even have to worry about Valentine's being in the way. (Secretly, I'm very excited for the possibilities with decor and baking that can be done with this idea:). So to make do all these years, I've just gone ahead and pretended all the hearts are for me - I know, again with the selfishness, I know! So, I LOVE hearts. The above wreath was a combination of inspiration from Craftaholics Anonymous and Tatertots and Jello. I wanted something a little different. I still bent a coat hanger into a heart, but I didn't use cupcake liners or burlap. Though I love both, I used fabric, in the hopes that I would conquer the sewing machine in the very near future. Well my friends - I own a machine now. I can't wait to show you...

will craft for food!

Like any good starving artist, why not make it into a costume? Though it's been a long time since I have posted anything, I guess we really do all have to start somewhere. Since the last start didn't take off exactly like I had hoped, there is no time like the present, or that of a new year, than to make a resolution. So here I am, exactly one month before my next birthday and I am going to try to be more consistent. But first, we will follow up with how last year ended. Yes, I am still the starving artist - still no full-time job, no health insurance; still as crafty as ever, with undying love for Hobby Lobby and all things craft stores (let me not even speak of the beloved scrapbooking store Archivers); all in all, still way too much time on my hands, way more than I would like.

So I, Miss I Don't Really Like Dressing Up for Halloween, went with it. That's right folks, you guessed it, I was a Starving Artist! For anyone who knew me, it was fabulous. Anyone else, it just a little explanation and then it was fine. But I was totally comfortable the whole night. And the best part - I got to make everything.

I had picked back up my knitting when I found out I was going to be an Aunt. So I found this adorable pattern on Etsy for a cute little slouch hat in thiscosylife's shop that I thought would be just so appropriate to complete the look. Then I took an old ratty t-shirt and cut out letters that spelled out "will craft for food." I just simply used a sharpie to outline the letters on scrap fabric by hand, but if you have a die-cut machine or want it to be more precise feel free. I did have some flower die-cuts that I used for some embellishments.

For the pants I took some old baggy jeans, cut off the bottoms, and "hemmed" them with ribbon and some polka-dot fabric so that they looked more artsy (this was also where the denim came from for the embellishments on the shirt - always recycling).