My Creative Mess (and Spongebob!)

I have a crafting problem. I start a billion projects and about halfway through I decide I'm not in the mood to complete them cause there's something else I'd rather be working on. Yeah, I think it may be crafty ADD. I truly enjoy creating. I also enjoy (LOVE) looking at all my pretty supplies! What I don't enjoy, however, is the mess that comes along with it. Case in point:



(Yes, my walls are orange. No, I don't particularly like them. We're renting and we'll be out of here in less than two years. No way I'm painting...saving that joy for my next house!)

It's a disaster but I'm getting stuff done, slowly but surely. Here are a couple of things I've finished recently and a few I'm working on:

Twine balls. Love these things! Super simple to make but a little time consuming. All you need is a styrofoam ball, twine (from Target dollar spot) and lots of glue sticks. You just wrap the twine around the ball and glue every couple of inches. I work on these On Sunday nights while watching True Blood with my husband.


These $2 knee socks from Target will soon be baby legs for my girl. She's 13 months and the stinker still isn't walking! She takes steps here and there but she finds it much faster to crawl. So adorable to hear the splat splat of her little hands as she takes off crawling down the hall!


Ohhhh...my wooden welcome! I really like the way this turned out. My kids and I were taking a walk and I saw that someone was throwing out a bunch of wood scraps. I, of course, picked some up and brought it home. I spray painted it off white (it didn't give complete coverage which is great--adds to the weathered look) and then glued on the wooden "welcome" word (also spray painted) that Ibought for $1.99 at JoAnns. Quick, easy, and looks fantastic on the console table in my entry.


A fun and fluffy coffee filter wreath hanging above the console table in the entryway. Love those little Command hooks...just perfect for something like this.


And last of all, I have to brag on my boy. He is such an artist...I'm really amazed by his talent. Seriously. He's 8. Look at this picture of Spongebob he drew on a little whiteboard. (He wasn't looking at a picture and copying it--he just drew this out of the blue.)

The boy has talent, right?!


*Look at my sidebar to see link parties I love!

Meet the Baxters

I *heart* my precious family! :)

*Thanks to www.nicoledenae.com

Guess what I bought??

This bad boy!!!


It left Utah yesterday so I'm hoping I get it tomorrow. Yes, I'm stalking the FedEx tracking! So excited to get this thing. Vinyl home decor, scrapbooking and cardmaking, heat transfers, yada yada yada. I'm going to be a creating fool!

I've been doing little bits of crafting here and there, nothing spectacular. I'll try to take some photos today so I can post them soon.

I Love: Organization

Organizing is one of my most favorite things to do. I love organizing and rearranging and making new systems. The only problem is, I have a tendency to organize something...and then do it again. And again. Rinse and repeat. I've recently rearranged the playroom and now I'm getting the itch to do it again. Actually, I need to re-do it so it'll be more toddler friendly. I want a room where both kids will have access to their toys. Plus, it'll be nice to get some of these toys out of the living room. (Are we the only ones who have toys lined up at every wall?!) I was looking for inspiration and found some fantastic rooms so I thought I'd share. (Now, much of this is "I wish", but some of it can be done with what I have.)


Damask Playroom

Oh my gorgeousness! Love this room. Love the bookshelves. In the spirit of keeping it real...in our house, the books would stay neat like that for all of 4.7 seconds. I love the chests on either side, too. Love that they used fun, bright colors while maintaining a more mature feel.





Dining Room Playroom

I want this room just for the pretty chairs and the pink kitchen!!





Pottery Barn Kids Playroom

I love pretty much anything Pottery Barn but this room is fantastic. It would be perfect for playing...and learning! I have a thing for kid sized table and chairs. So stinkin' cute!





Bright and Cheerful Playroom

Huge, bright and super organized! My kids would destroy it in no time flat! lol




Okay, I'm off here to bag up toys we own but are never played with so they can be donated. Then maybe I'll start on the playroom--I'll post updates and pictures!

Baby Girl is Sick

My sweet girl is sick. She's been running a fever for 3 days. I took her to the doctor today because it's Friday and the sickies have a crazy way of getting worse during the weekend. Everything looked good...her ears, throat, lungs, etc. The doctor wanted a urine sample to rule out a UTI. Wouldn't you know that Cam didn't wet her diaper the entire 3 hours we were there. They ended up collecting a sample with a catheter. :( Heartbreaking. Say a prayer that sweet girl starts feeling better soon...I need to see that precious, smiling face again!

Folded Paper Flowers

Look at this adorable bouquet I have greeting people in the guest bath:



Super cute, huh? I also have a few of them on my fridge holding up menu plans and artwork.


(The magnets are precious...the dust, not so much! I *am* wiping the fridge door down as soon as I finish posting. Yikes!)

These accordian folded paper flowers are super-de-duper easy to make. Here's what you need: a scorer, two strips of paper 12 inches long and 1.5 inches wide (you can vary the width), a handy dandy glue gun, and cute embellishments (flowers,buttons, bling, etc).



I'll give you step by step directions (although this is so simple you could surely figure it out on your own...just helping ya out in case!) First, use the scorer to make accordian folds on both strips of paper, 1/2 inch apart, all the way down. Like this:


Next, glue the ends of each piece together to make one long strip. Glue those ends together to make a big circle.


This parts is kind of hard to explain. Flip the circle in and pinch it together with your hand so that it looks like this:


Now put some hot glue in the center hole and hold it til its glued. Do the same for the back side of the flower.


Lastly, top it off with your embellishments and think of a billion cute ways to use the flower. Here's an idea...use it as a cute package topper.





Ca-ute! And easy. And fast. My kind of craft! :)

{Not} Back to School!

Today was our first day of homeschool--3rd grade. The public schools out here don't start until the 23rd but we're getting a jump start on them. We take lots of breaks throughout the year so it all evens out. Cade did great today--he even said, "I can do my school work forever!" Ummm...shall I remind him of that a few months from now?! ;)

After a yummy lunch of this (of which neither of my children ate--I thought it was delish!):


We went and had ice cream! Cade decided on strawberry.


We were at Cold Stone Creamery and he decided on no add-ins. What? You gotta spice that ice cream up! Well, a little anyway...I chose vanilla with chocolate chips. Nothing too fancy for either of us.


I gave Camden a couple bites but she's not a big fan of ice cream. I don't like ice cream too much either (just pretend like you didn't see that I ate half a cup!)


After ice cream we went to Camden's 1 yr well check. She's 20 lb 9 oz (30%) and 30 3/4 inches (90%). Love this gorgeous girl!



Linking up to:

Camden's 1st Birthday

I had so much fun getting everything together for Camden's first birthday party last weekend. As a matter of fact, I catch myself dreaming up silly little reasons to throw another party just so I can decorate again! The theme was pink and green and polka dots. Here are a few shots of the day:

Birthday chalkboard


Princess roses. I put them in mason jars and they were so beautiful!


Pompoms on the chandalier


Pink plasticware and green straws in mason jars. I made the labels for the water bottles, too. Bought the butterfly confetti from Etsy.


Balloons tied to the birthday chair


Smash cake getting smashed


My 1 yr old princess!

Spring snapshots

This photo screams spring to me because, well, it says "happy spring" on the sidewalk! lol Kidding! It's those pink ladybugs on her gingham dress and also the two mosquito bites on her forehead--poor baby! Spring/summer and mosquitos go hand in hand down here, unfortunately. And yes, she did attempt to eat the chalk after I used it. :)




It's been in the 90's here so yesterday when Camden woke up from her nap and was still grumpy, I let her "swim". It took her a few minutes to get used to the idea but then she had a blast! She loves splashing and crawling all around the little pool. She also loves pulling the grass up and putting it in the water. Ew! Oh, and I need to buy some of those little swimmies. Her diaper must have held about 2 gallons of water by the time she got out of the pool!




Have to add one of the boy! The city was doing something with all the fire hydrants in our neighborhood and Cade thought it was the coolest thing ever to get to play in the water. He was totally bummed when the water was turned off. :)


I'm adding these photos over at Natalie's Sentiments for a chance to win this:

Check out her blog, yall...lots of great "currently's" on her sidebar, a couple of cute kids, and fun giveaways!

Public Enemy #1

Mr. Wasp,

I've never liked flying insects that sting. So you've never really been a friend of mine. But yesterday after you stung my baby girl? I wanted to kill you. And I did. I smacked you with a stack of papers and it killed you. To be honest, that just didn't seem good enough. I wanted to slowly torture you. Instant death wasn't punishment enough. Why the heck did you sting my baby? She just wanted to pick you up. She's only 7 months...she learns about things by touching. And tasting. Thank goodness she didn't get you to her mouth! After a dose of Motrin, the swelling in her hand has gone down and she's doing fine. That means I'm feeling much better about the whole thing. I'm calm now and I realize you were just doing your wasp thing. Let's make a deal. You stay out of my house and I won't kill you. But if you ever mess with one of my kids again...I will not hesitate to snuff the life out of you.

Sincerely,
Angry Mama Bear

**for the record, I'm not a violent person. I just don't like my babies getting hurt! :)

Pooped

This is not a picture of me. It is, however, prety much how I feel. I'm pooped. Worn out. My 7 month old, as adorable as she is, does not sleep well. Seriously. She's up every 1-2 hours. All. Night. Long. Like I said, I'm tired (pronounced tarred, like a true southerner!).



Another picture of not me. But definitely how I feel. 24 hours a day is just not enough. Not when there's homeschooling and cooking (from scratch?!) and cleaning (sweeping and dishes and bathrooms, oh my!) and laundry and baby raising and nursing said baby and character training and grocery shopping and homemaking and bill paying and bible study and taking a shower and getting dressed/made up and personal time and taking care of a husband and requesting defensive driving for his traffic ticket (such a pain when the ticket was received in another city) and non-sleeping all night long to do. Whew! Just typing all that I'm supposed to do every day wears me out. Is it possible to get it all done? Cause I'm reading blogs (uh-oh, might be a time waster, there!) and I "see" all these women that seem to be getting it all done. So either they're super women or they're not telling the truth. Hmm.

Alright, I'm off to put my precious, no sleeping babe back to bed. And yes, I'll be taking a nap with her!