crazy/good day

Today was a crazy/good day.

It wasn't exactly as I planned it to be but crazy/good days usually aren't.

Yesterday was a long day. A long (good) day made longer by a surprise crashed car. No worries- it was parked on the side of the street. The driver of the other car wasn't hurt (I assume I guess?) either. But little blue may not recover from this one. And she needed a lot of attention today between insurance people and tow truck people and rental car people.

So those plans for today- they didn't exactly go as planned.




Once in awhile someone will tell me what a nice job I do at hosting parties. I generally (very humbly and modestly, of course) nod in agreement and say, yes, yes I am.

Oh I'm totally kidding.

The only way I can ever pull off any type of shindig is by recruiting a long list of helpers (Jen, Jill, Erin, etc, etc, etc have all helped plan shindigs for me) and my biggest helper is R. He is typically the brunt behind my big ideas. And with him being way busy with little blue (and two basketball games) I was a little in over my head today.

It wasn't too bad until I was in over my elbows (literally) in melted chocolate when I realized the peppermint flavoring was not so much pepperminty anymore (actually it was straight up alcohol based on the smell of it...). R did take time of his busy day to go on a peppermint hunt for me but the halt in production (and melted chocolate all over the place) left me in a bit of a mess. Thankfully we had some unexpected visitors show up at the door who took pity on me and grab spoons and rolling pins and started working. Then when our neighbor stopped by I begged him to send his wife over to work (thanks Bethany) and somehow we pulled off  another crazy/good shindig.

Oh. Yeah.

The point of this post.

Craft Night!!!  This was number 7 maybe? 8? I can't remember how many years we've been doing them but for awhile now. (Okay, I actually have no clue.)

I've learned a few things over the times and this was the lowest stress level I've had a craft night yet (well once everyone showed up to finish all my jobs to actually get ready for craft night that is). ;)

Jill & I got together awhile back to do some practice crafts and finish all of ours ahead of time so we could just help everyone else out tonight and not stress about our own projects. It was the best idea ever.

So there wasn't as much crafting this time (for me anyway) but there was lots of food and treats and good times. My favorite part of shindigs is always when they are over and a small group stays behind because they know I'm not ready for the party to end. Those chats and laughs are always my fave.


Yep. Today was crazy/good.

Christmas Craft Day 2012

We had another round of Craft Day today! Craft Days are some of my favorite days of the year! 

This time around we had a few snacks and a BYOUFCM* hot cocoa bar (complete with Redi Whip which isn't pictured here but should be!). ;)  

*bring your own ugly festive christmas mug

I think it may have been my most successful craft day yet- I finished ALL of the projects. And I was actually happy with the way all of them turned out. Can you believe it?! :)
Four is the new number for projects in a day (remind me of that next time please!).

Projects:
-Gratitude Journals
-Chicken Wire Frames & fancy clothes pins
-Tile Coasters
-Tea Towels

Thanks a ton, ladies! It's alway fun to see you!
And for those of you that have asked in the past about craft day- we now have a Facebook group for it. Be sure to let us know if you want an invite to the group!



Updated: Pictures of completed crafts-

Christmas Craft Day '11

We had the third edition of Craft Day here at the Hicks' Ranch last weekend.
Of course it was attended by some fabulous women. I'm blessed to have such great gals to craft with in my life! :) We had some breakfast and did some crafting. And lots of catching up. In fact, by the time I realized what time it was, we had missed lunch and it was time for dinner (which we ate breakfast leftovers for!). Good times!

I realized I didn't get a photo of each craft (and I would take a photo of each of mine but I haven't quite finished all of mine yet.... ha). I tried to get a crafting in action photo but almost everyone hid as the camera came out. Please note the paper covered tables though. No super glue casualties this time around!! :)

We had a little guest make his way downstairs. (Somehow on daddy daycare day, daddy ended up leaving to work out. How does that work?! Ha)

And some of the crafty girls. I never think to take a picture until at least one chica is gone (sorry, Lisa!) and we're also missing Jen (who sent her craft up but stayed home so she wouldn't spread her germs. I ended up getting sick anyway. Bummer!).

But I did get a photo of:
(br) Jill, Erin, Ashley, Kari, Anne
(fr) Molly, Me, Kelsey & Jaren

With some of our crafty goodness.

You can check out all of the projects below (and check out the blogs from those lovely ladies- maybe they'll post their finished projects..... hint hint girls!):

-vintage paper ornaments
-braided headbands
-santa belly ornaments
-scrapbook CDs
-ruffle bags
-block letters
-button paperclips
-button bobby pins
-t-shirt necklace


Thanks for another Craftastic Day, girls!! Cant wait to do it again!


(PS- Have you noticed all the blogging going on here today? I still have the 'snotty nose, sore throat, cant cuddle a baby crud' so Mr Beckett is sitting next to me in his MamaRoo while I blog in between naps- and feel too lousy to do anything else around here... you know.. except for stare at the laundry pile I should be folding)

A Craftastic Summer Evening

Updated: I have been asked for this post by a few people and I thought I had posted it. I typed it a long time ago and just never got around to publishing. Sorry!!

I have to admit, I really dropped the ball on craft night. We originally talked about doing a spring one, then an early summer one, then finally it turned into lets just get one in before school starts again. -We're much more realistic now and already planning the next one for another Christmas one! I'm also being a little more realistic about what I'll be able to contribute and have already asked the foodie to be the menu planner. ;)

My high school friend, Jill (a foodie) brought the BEST cheesecake stuffed strawberries and the cutest mustache mug craft. (Seriously, I could go for a ton more of those strawberries right now. You know how everyone is polite and leaves the last one? I was totally 'that girl' that ate the last strawberry tonight. SOOOO good!)

Molly brought this fun canvas project. (Are you noticing the Pinterest trend yet? We thought the next craft date should maybe be changed to Pinterest date instead....) Jen made the vinyl letters for mine with her fancy schmancy cricut. Have you seen those things at work? So geeky but soooo awesome!

Kari brought the sand vases. I think you were supposed to cover the entire thing but I opted for a sand stripe instead. (I like to live on the edge).

I did the Scrabble 'frames' with the clothes pin. Jen reminded me yesterday that I hadn't actually seen it or tested it to see how it would work (and that not everything I envision works out). I should have stuck with a Pinterest craft. My original plan was to do the bigger Scrabble canvas as my craft but it's pretty hard to come by that many letters for everyone! (But you can keep collecting those old Scrabble letters for me please and thank you!)

Here's a sample of what we made. Jill has better pictures on her blog so go check those out. My mustache mug had already found a home in my new niche before I took this picture so you may have spied it on my desk picture. (and yes, our little guy's name is blacked out on purpose. R wont let me tell anyone!!! sorry!)

As always, some of the craftasticly awesome women I know:

blog worthy?

As I was doing the 20th+ load of laundry today I realized our laundry room didn't have dirty clothes on the floor for the first time since I started doing photography. This was great. This was amazing. This was SO blog worthy. Well maybe not that last one, but I was definitely excited about it. Excited enough that it made me start to organize the craft corner a little bit (really my laundry room is a craft room disguised as a dirty laundry room- it's a work in progress). And as I started organizing the craft corner I found fabric for flowers. Which reminded me I needed to make Kylie's headband flower. Which reminded me I still hadn't found the fabric I bought for burp cloths and bibs. So I dug through the fabric until I found it. And remembered I had been wanting to make one of those burp cloths or bibs for a long time. So I made a bib.

I know you're comparing me to a mouse right now. Or a pig. Or the moose.

But look at this bib. I know you aren't impressed but it's the first thing I've sewn for fun in a LONG time. That's a big deal.

And don't worry, while I may have cried in the fabric store yesterday thinking the boy fabric was all ugly, I don't think it's ugly enough to make our poor little guy wear pink and purple. I'll pawn this off on the next little girl I see.

(You can make a bib too! Use the bib tutorial from Raechel over at Finding my Feet. Thanks, Raechel!)

Hey, Super Crafters!

Did you see the craftastic weekend on Whatever? I had thought about using embroidery hoop art as mine for next time so I was super excited to see the different versions. Do you have yours planned yet? There are some cute ideas!! Are we ready to set the date for our next one????? :)

Craftasticly Junky

I started my Saturday by updating my facebook status.

(R really does say that about everyday. My facebook picture really is fraggle rock. Yes, I've been informed fraggle rock doesn't count as a cartoon character.)

I ate breakfast with some fabulous women. Since R wasn't around, it was my turn to say the blessing. Yes I say things like "Hey, Jesus" and "craftastic" when I pray. Sometimes I even call him "dude." I don't think He minds.

Breakfast was followed by a morning long meeting with the SUPER CRAFTERS. Yes, they are amazing women. (No, we didn't make the capes for ourselves. Yes, we made better stuff than capes but those are top secret until after Christmas.)

H, Kari, Ashley, Jen

Jaren, Lisa, Anne, Molly

After crafting, J&I went on some Jolly Junking. She's really good about supporting my junk habit. She's patient with me, pushes me on great deals, and holds me back on too crazy ideas.

On the way home, my fairly new tire blew. Yup. I saw the thing flying away through my rear view mirror. Luckily, we were still pretty close to the Junking which is pretty close to our good friends' house. Jaren's husband, Nick (whom we had just been talking about that morning as not being the sweetest guy in the world), came to our rescue. He had us changed and on our way pretty quick. He may not be the sweetest guy in the world, but he'll drop anything to help you out when you need him.

Once we finally made it home, my adorable neighbor girls came over to trade some adorable smiles for some crafting supplies.

We really are blessed by the people that surround us. We have some really great friends. With friends like ours, even a day with a flat tire along the side of the interstate can be the best day.

PS- Craftastic Days are not invitation only. Just let me know if you want to come to the next one! We are planning to do a kid friendly one soon too! It's gonna be sew much fun! ;)

Today deserves a lot more of a post than this quick recap.... I'll get to the rest of the story later.

But for now, know that my morning was craftastic and my afternoon was 'junk.' :) I have good people in my life.

{cb}h

Here's a little ditty from {cb}h (that's created by this time).

It was a Monday night. I was in the middle of another working evening. My brain needed a break.

I'd been wanting to test out some craft ideas for our (almost) homemade Christmas event (I'm SOOOO excited about it, y'all!). And we are going to be in need of some wall art in the near future. (That's the only current hint you get about that project.)

So I grabbed an old sweater. One I love. One that has memories attached. One that's just a little too snug for me these days.

I scuffed up one of those frames from another project idea (they've been laying around since we got engaged waiting to be used for a last name project..... I figured that wasn't happening anytime soon and I could steal from that project's pile...).

I stuck a little ditty on the little (as in too little) sweater and stuck it in the frame.

Materials needed:

A sweater that doesn't fit you anymore (or does. I'm not picky)

A frame

A little ditty of sorts

Glue gun

Sewing shears (I kid. I couldn't find mine and used my pampered chef shears instead.... don't tell on me.)

10 minutes.

Yup... that's all. 10 minutes. Or less if your glue gun heats up faster than mine. Or more if you choose to be careful and make sure your sweater isn't in the frame backwards. Whatever.

So go forth. Make some little ditties. (Oh- and this isn't making the (almost) homemade Christmas cut so you'll have to do it on your own if you want one!)

(Almost) Homemade Christmas

A friend asked me about crafty Christmas gifts. It made me realize she is way more on the ball than me!!!! With less than 50 days till Christmas, the countdown is on for a handmade (or at least, thoughtful) Christmas.

I searched my blog for ideas first.

Know any little ones?

These little hats are always easy, cute, and customizable. And who doesn't love em right now?

Cute onesies or little shirts require very little stitching (the shirts could even be done without stitching) and are super customizable.

My niece and nephew both love the super hero cape.

The Ugly Dolls are always cute!

Need something for a friend (or family member) of the taller variety?

Easy (and cheap) to make cake (or cookie) stands filled with homemade treats of course. Last time I was at Goodwill I wanted to stock up on the plethora of candlesticks they had that would be perfect for this project.

These ornaments are always fun to get little ones to make (as a top secret project, of course) then to give to their mommas, grandmas, etc.

Take an old window and turn it into something new. My favorite is the magnetic photo/card holder. And I get so many compliments on it when people come in the front door. It's cheap ($7.99) and people think it costs a lot more. You could make customizable magnets to go with it! (I still have a few windows from my sister's house if anyone needs one.) The smaller version of the magnet board can be made with a picture frame.

The necklace/jewelry holder is an easy craft. Every time I'm at my sister's I wish I would've made one for myself.

Do you sew? This scarf (no knitting required) got a lot of use last year. (I have a new idea for one this year but so far have been afraid to cut my fabric...)

A lot of people are getting DSLR cameras. Why not give them some bling for their camera strap?

No camera? How bout some bling for their neck? (You can borrow my stamping kit!)

A few years ago (we were either building our house or saving for a wedding- I just remember we were POOR), I took wine bottles, filled them with white Christmas lights, painted them with snowmen (and other winter scenes) and gave the decorated wine bottle to most of our family. Christmas decorations are nice because it's not something a lot of people care to spend a lot of money on and they are only out for a short time so they don't get too bored with it (and they don't feel guilty putting away your gift at the end of the season).

For my secret santa at work, I usually stitch together a corn pillow. Similar to the Wuv It- you can heat it and use it for aches and pains. I have a couple of the heat packs and love them!

Homemade goodies never get turned away. Put them on a cute serving tray or bowl and earn extra points. Last year I jarred up some homemade cocoa mix, attached the recipe and some Pampered Chef bamboo spoons (that I had 'earned' from a party) and my secret Santa was set.

Coupons are cheesy, but still thoughtful and super helpful. My cousin gave my uncle a meal a month one year. I was jealous. Maybe you aren't crafty but you can cook? Maybe you can't cook but love to clean? Maybe you don't like anything domestic but you can at least keep someone's kids alive while they go on a date night? Meal, house cleaning, and babysitting coupons aren't a bad idea.

Last year my mom got me a $5 subscription to Midwest Living. I don't get any other magazines so I really appreciate getting this in the mail (plus who doesn't love getting something other than a bill in the mail every once in awhile) and every time it comes I think of mom.

And of course I have to say that photos are always a good gift. The canvases are my most favorite right now (though not cheap or handmade) but there are less expensive routes to coming up with photo gifts. And when Shutterfly is giving away free photo books- that's a great time to get a photo book for someone.

Hopefully I'll have some new crafts after this year's Christmas.

Good luck with your handmade Christmas (or your shopping)!! Less than 50 days to go.....

This post has me wanting to host a homemade Christmas craft day! Who's in!?? :)

An Attempt at a Tutorial

By request.......

How To Make Fabric Flowers (if you can call them that! maybe fabric blobs would be more appropriate) and Braids

-Start with all of your scrap pieces of fabric. Divvy them up between flowers, braids, and ugly dolls. Other things that may be useful- alligator clips, needle/thread, hot glue (unless you're out of sticks and used all the English teacher's up at school)

-Tear (because scissors are overrated.... I mean to ensure your fabric is even... ) your fabric into strips. About 2" wide strips for flowers. Smaller for braids. Length can be as long as you want. I normally make the flowers and stop when it's the size I want it.

-Tuck one corner under. Start wrapping the fabric around itself. You can fold the edges over neatly if your heart desires. I prefer the smoosh it till it looks good method.

-At this point, you'll probably want to stitch a stitch in the bottom of the blob flower to hold it together. If you want it on a clip to wear in your hair, on your tank top, or on your purse, cover an alligator clip with ribbon and hot glue your flower to the clip. (Wait. Don't clip it to your purse/camera bag. I lost mine today!!! Sad!)

-For the braids (pay attention, it's a tough one) take three skinny scraps of fabric and braid it. Knot or stitch both ends. Decide how to use it.... a head band, a book mark, a bracelet (though I'd recommend a longer strand wrapped around for a bracelet!), key chain, (put a bunch together for...) table runner, rug, etc, etc, etc.

You are amazed at how easy I made this tough project look, aren't you? :)

Craft Room.

I know you can't tell but I haven't spent much time on the computer lately. (Nearly all of the last 10 posts were scheduled to auto publish- love that feature!)

I gave myself a mini-break in the photo schedule thinking I would need it to edit Vegas pictures. I was right- though I haven't done anything with Vegas (other than wedding) pictures yet!

Instead I've been crafting.

I've turned our guest bedroom into a craft zone. The bed is filled with fabrics and supplies. Morgan's table is a sewing machine desk. The book is case full of tools.

My husband thinks it's a (not so) subtle hint that I'd love to have the craft room in the basement completed. (He may be on to something....)

Currently, we are waiting on the electrician to work on the basement... if all goes as scheduled (ha!) our basement should be ready to use in early September! Craft room or no craft room- it's exciting!

So what have I been crafting?

Well besides the plethora of Ugly dolls, head bands, & fabric flowers (I'm still working on getting that 'tutorial' up, Amy!) my latest obsession craft are these little hats.

I'd been wanting some for photo props for a long time but I couldn't find any that I LOVED. And I couldn't even find any that I liked for a price I was willing to spend. I tried a couple times to set up a 'trade of services' type deal but they just didn't work out. Sooooo you know where I turn to when I'm too cheap to buy something (which is a lot). Yes- my 'craft room.' The flowers are all interchangeable.... but do you get the slightest feel for Fall or Christmas here? Yikes. I better go change them up! ;)

So now that I spent the time to make them... I'm sure you'll be able to tell me great places where I can buy these things for cheap. (By the way- don't, ha) But how about cute little boy accessories? Anyone know where I can find some cute (real) little boy ties and fun hats?

More Hickstionary

I used to have all these pretty little tabs across the top of my blog about past topics.... then I realized that was way too much work and TAGS are much easier. So here's some past topics from the Hickstionary. You can search through tabs and use that handy little search box up top to find more! :)

FAITH

FAMILY

FOOD

FIRESIDE

FUN

FOREVER

ODDS/ENDS



HICKSTIONARY 365 from 2010