mood blanket monday: week 8

Happy Monday!  

I am a bit in shock that I have this post written and ready to go on time.  Wooohoo!

I spent much of Sunday redoing my little blog: designing little graphics, uploading, reloading, saving, deleting, downloading, reloading.  Suffice it to say, it was a pasta and jarred sauce kind of dinner last night!

  But I am quite happy with the little makeover (and so happy to see a white background again!).  I'm sure I'll be tweaking it here and there.  But for now, let's get on with last week's blanket.

Last week was February vacation around here.  Three boys.home with me.for the week.  We had a great time doing a whole lot of nothing.  Sometimes I want to get out and do stuff with them, and I wish they had a little more sense of adventure in them (they take after their dad), but for times when I just want to hunker down in the house, these boys are all I need.

Let's just say there was a lot of video game time, but the important thing is that we were together.  Here's the week in blanket squares:

Day 47:

Day 48:

Day 49:

stomach bug times 3 :(

Day 50:

Day 51:

Day 52:

 Day 53:

Thanks for visiting!

mood blanket monday: week 7

Just scraping in with my crochet mood blanket update before we rush off to the hockey rink {again}.

 This week was so much easier because I really stayed on top of it and crocheted my square every single day.  It might have also helped that I was in a much better mood this week!
Sunday || DAY 40:

{two naps and lots of reading}

Monday || DAY 41:

{channeling my inner youth on my 40th birthday}

Tuesday || DAY 42:

{coming to terms with the fact that 40 is not so bad}
 Wednesday || DAY 43:

{anniversary of my grandpa's death and lunch with my mom, dad and aunt}
Thursday || DAY 44:

{a snow day = found time to create}
 Friday || DAY 45:

{Valentine's Day}
Saturday || DAY 46:

{lots of family time, even if most of it was at the ice rink}

scrappy saturday: catch-up

I made scrapbooking a priority this weekend.  Amazing what you can accomplish when you make something a priority.  Three layouts, that's what.

Of course, some sketches and free cut files didn't hurt either.

Here they are:

I struggled with this one.  I love these photos of my little boy#3 when he was nearly 2.  I had run some vintage filters to really soften them up.  I must have spent 30 minutes shuffling them around trying to get them to work with a Sodalicious sketch.  With the large size of my photos, it just wasn't meant to be.  Finally, I settled on this design and called it done.

Next up was this page

made easy by the Creative Scrappers sketch and Sherri Funk's awesome {and free--woo!} cut file.

And then I got myself all caught up with this layout

{don't think you can quite tell from this photo, but boy#3 is hysterically crying}

using this sketch from Lily Bee

 Feels so good to be making scrapbooking a priority in my life this year, and to be caught up to my goal of a page a week.

Thanks so much for taking a peek, and I hope you are making creativity a priority in your life.

tinkerbell invitations

I have been working on a super fun project for two little girls' birthdays.  They're having a Tinkerbell party and I have been honored with the task of designing the invitation.

I really love these kinds of projects.  I love the challenge of coming up with an idea, and then executing it.

Most of all I love when it turns out better than I expected, like this one did.

Little Tink is caught in a mason jar tied up with baker's twine and a hang tag.

The vellum jar contains a sprinkling of her pixie dust: pink glitter and gold & vellum stars.

The entire invitation was designed using the Silhouette Designer Series software.  I used the software to create cut files from jpegs, and to also draw hair, clothes and shoes for Tinkerbell.

The envelopes are also handmade using the We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board

Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit today!

pencil arrow valentines

Love is in the air, and Valentines for my little Valentines are done and ready for giving:

I had this project in my head after seeing this Pin and had planned to cut the arrow feathers by hand.  Then in a fantastic turn of luck, the Silhouette blog came to my rescue with their free cut file:

image credit: Silhouette America

I set to work with glitter pencils from Target's Dollar Spot and whipped these pretties up.

Twenty of them to give to my sweet kindergarteners

Wrapped with twine and a hanging tag

Happy Valentine's Day!

❤XOXO❤ 

on my hook: can cozy

It's actually Thursday, and it's actually snowing (no surprise there), and I'm making the most of the "found time" on this snow day from school and work.  

I made pancakes for breakfast (a snow day tradition), took photos of some projects that have been in the works over here, and have been editing them to turn them into blog posts.  Yup, it's been a happy day with this view outside my window:

Good morning! Today is going to be a good day.

A photo posted by Michelle Neddo (@lifemadecreations) on Feb 11, 2014 at 5:02am PST

It's the perfect day to also work on a little crochet project, too.  Here's what's on my hook this week:

 I purchased this beautiful rainbow of yarn from the lovely Love Knitting online store

a #rainbow of new #yarn from @loveknittingcom.

A photo posted by Michelle Neddo (@lifemadecreations) on Jan 28, 2014 at 11:51am PST

Unfortunately, the DK weight is a little too light for my blanket.  But it is perfect for some flowers that I'll be crocheting soon.  And also perfect for a crocheted can cozy to hold my new yummy crochet hooks.

#ohhappyday new #crochet hooks arrived #rainbow #colormakesmehappy

A photo posted by Michelle Neddo (@lifemadecreations) on Jan 29, 2014 at 12:04pm PST

The plan is to wrap this tea canister with a rainbow of single and double crochet.

Hopefully I'll be able to post the finished project soon!

What do you have on your hook this week?

mood blanket monday: week 6

It's another Mood Blanket Monday!

For the first time during this project, it became a little hard.  I didn't feel like keeping track of moods, didn't feel like thinking up colors to match those moods.  Maybe even felt like giving up.  I'm trying to keep my blanket positive, yet authentic.  There are some days when I am sad or angry or frustrated.    Luckily those feelings don't often last the entire day, and I'm able to focus on some piece of positivity from the day.

Here's the week (from the Collect app):

So there it is: week 6 of my crochet mood blanket in all its positive and not-so-positive squares.

Have a great week!