6.28.2010

Halfway there

This is week 26 of my 52 week project.
Affectionately named "PEACE"
I wanted to do something a little quirky/Americana for the upcoming July 4th holiday.

 

This was not actually my favorite picture from this little photoshoot, but I did love the natural catch lights that the light from my window offered, so I went with it.

I am so happy I've made it to the halfway mark.  Even the weeks when the creative juices aren't really flowing, it has been fun and I know I will look back at my "40th" year and appreciate the project.

If anyone else wants to jump on board, you could do a 26 week project and start now.
It's been so much fun and I've really learned alot about myself - mostly all my cosmetic faults, but a few positives too. :)

One thing it has taught me is not to be afraid to jump out and try something new.
I've gotten less uncomfortable (notice I didn't say 'more comfortable', that was intentional) about being photographed and I've learned to be creative with lighting, positioning and styling.

I was perusing my flickr feed and enjoyed looking at the color fun photos from a year or so ago.

Would anyone be interested in doing that again or something similar?
I'd be happy to "host" it on Flickr again.
Those types of challenges are so fun and really make you look around and appreciate the little things.

6.27.2010

God's Masterpieces

This past week has been totally busy but in a good way. 

I enjoyed immensely the great VBS our church had. 
Children are such a blessing.

I am constantly reminded of God and His Glory just by looking around.  I am especially awed by the sky.
Clouds.
Beautiful Blues.
Sunrise.
Sunset

I'm definitely partial to sunsets and God has given so many pretty ones lately. 

I was lucky enough to have my camera and be able to capture a couple this week.

This one was totally awe-inspiring...like brings-tears-to-your-eyes awe-inspiring!

Have you ever seen the entire sky look like a rainbow?  This one did.


I wish I could capture the entire thing and the feeling it gave me to be engulfed in the color this reflected.  It was absolutely breathtaking!


This was tonight just after a thunderstorm passed by:



Seriously!  Grab your camera and capture God's artwork - there are no paint colors or computer program that can do this! 

6.23.2010

crazy-ness

just wanted to check in and say hiddy-ho on the old blog.
VBS this week is going great!  HOT, but great.  

Look how adorable these guys are! 
1st and 2nd graders crack me up. :D


They had a stick horse relay through an obstacle course last night.  
good times....


Between work and that, I've not had the extra blog/creative time.

Looking forward to my DeShazo family reunion Saturday and seeing brothers, sister (hopefully) uncles, Granny, aunt, dad, stepmom and lot of cousins (some whom I don't know).  Lots of photos I'm sure.


A couple of these are still available if you are interested before Independence Day holiday.



Happy Wednesday - Pray for me to make it through one more night of recreation outside at VBS in the blistering heat!  Friday will be the big finale - such a fun yet exhausting week, always. :)

6.21.2010

I got the blues

and I am darn happy about it!!!!

Check out my haul from picking blueberries on Saturday: 
 


Oh yeah Baby!!!  Those are the most luscious blueberries I've ever eaten! 




I picked these over in Izard County at the Piney Fork Blueberry Farm.  
My first time to go and I'll say I was pleasantly surprised!  
The people are super nice and so helpful. 



I went early enough that it wasn't hot yet so ended up picking an extra gallon for my aunt. 
(I'm super nice like that.)



mmmm, I love me some blueberries.

6.20.2010

Winners!!!!

Sorry for the delay in choosing a winner, but I had to wait till hubs woke up from his Father's Day nap so he could draw the winner(s). 

I decided I would give a runner up prize...cause I'm nice like that!

So, I know present the winner of the CSN Lighting $40 gift card:


YAY!!!! Tiffany.  Congrats girl. :) I'll email your contact info to the nice folks at CSN and they will get your gift card to you!

And for the runner up:



YAY Jeanie!!!!  You win one of my Crochet Flowers.  I'll send you one of these so you can show your patriotic spirit in time for Independence Day!  Drop me an email with your mailing address.



I still have some Red, White and Blue Crochet Candy if anyone is interested.  Leave me a comment or drop me an email.  Contact is above my banner.

I enjoyed this giveaway and hope to do more of these from time to time.

Giveaway Old School style - coming up

This is my preparing for the giveaway from CSN Lighting that was going on here on my blog this past week.  I decided to go for an old school style giveaway and wrote down each entry which I will cut and have my husband draw today. (Hey, it's Father's Day! His gift? - conducting this drawing.  Lucky, ain't he?) ;) 


I know, you are asking yourself, why in the heckfire would she go to the trouble of writing all that down when she could do on on the computer in a pretty little spreadsheet and print it out?  (NANCY, I know you are asking that!!!)  Or, use the cool Random Number Generator website. Well, that's just how I roll sometimes -  PLUS, I wanted to write with that awesome Sharpie pen.

Winner will be posted later. 
Stay tuned!

Meantime, Happy Father's Day to all those Dads and Dad figures in our lives. :)

6.19.2010

Saddle Ridge Ranch

I just couldn't resist posting this picture - for some reason it just cracks me up!!! (I can imagine what the other people I drove past on the highway thought) ;)




We begin VBS this week at church at have a big kick off "Round-Up" tonight complete with a cook out and some activities to go along with our theme: Saddle Ridge Ranch.  I am providing a steer to rope.  Well, his horns were too wide to ride inside the car so we had to improvise!



I truly enjoy VBS each year, but I'll be honest: It totally WEARS*ME*OUT!!!! 
Mom and I are in charge of recreation (outside) this year and right now the heat index is over 100 degrees.  Please pray we make it!  Seriously!

6.17.2010

Nifty & Thrifty Tutorial

I'm happy to bring you this little dress upcycle that I had been thinking about for a few days after coming across some clothes hanging in my laundry room that have not been worn for several years and were due to either go to the benevolent clothing room or the trash can!

However, I have been following Marisa's blog for a couple of weeks and was feeling inspired to get my sewing machine busy and turn my proverbial trash into new treasure!

We are going to name her - ummm, how about Bertie?  

Hello Bertie, now aren't you matronly.



So here is Bertie the Beauty before I did anything besides wash her. Tag said dry clean only, but I washed on delicate and hung her to dry - a little trick I learned in my Fashion Merchandising course in college.  Sometimes manufacturers put "dry clean only" on the tag when they are too cheap to do the testing needed for laundering. 

Excuse my blurry shots - Bertie's busy pattern was not the easiest to photograph.

So first and foremost we had to remove some buttons.  I'm a button hoarder from way back and even have little containers that I keep them separated by color. (Mmmmm OCD much?)

Never miss a button opportunity, I say!


Now, let's get down to it.... I had tried Bertie on and decided I would cut off the top bodice and part of the bottom to leave a fun little summer skirt.  Actually these buttons went down low enough that I decided to leave a couple of them and use them as my new fastener for my skirt.

No sense making any more work for myself, right?

I went ahead and whacked the top bodice of Bertie off and saved her for .....IDK, I just save stuff!  You never know when you might need a piece of some random fabric for some other project, or at least that's what the voices tell me.

I had planned to cut this off about the knee and just put in a simple hem and call it good, but then after cutting it off - I had a ruffle epiphany!  {did you hear the trumpets sound?}

Here is the bottom part of Bertie that was destined to join that top bodice piece in No-Man's Scrapland.

So, I took it a step further and decided that I could cut off part of the very bottom of this scrap, put in a little gather stitch and sew it back on my skirt on for a sweet ruffle.  How clever am I?

I went ahead and turned under the raw edges of the skirt and the ruffle and put in a little finish so it wouldn't unravel and look all messy. Alternatively you can put in a tight zig-zag stitch or use your serger for a nice finish...but me and my no-serger-having self just did it the old fashioned way...but I'm not bitter or anything. 

Next step was a long basting stitch along the top part of the ruffle piece to gather in for the ruffle affect.



I will stop here and we'll visit Hindsight-land.

Looking back I would have done something differently at this point because my ruffle was just not as ruffly as I wanted. Boo.

What I could have done was cut a piece from that top bodice scrap piece and add it to the ruffle piece before gathering so there would have been more fabric to gather to add volume to my ruffle.

So here's a little math formula for you:  Ruffle + Fabric = Volume
(there will be a quiz later)


Anyway, back to Foresight-land:

So I carefully pulled the ends of the threads to gather up the piece.  Then I pinned on the ruffle to my skirt bottom, right sides together and pulled and pinned and adjusted until it was all in place.

Then it was time to sew!  Once it was sewn on I ironed the seam allowance down toward the ruffle.  I am a huge believer in utilizing my iron when I sew.  I think it helps keep the piece looking professional.  Thank you Mrs Pew! (my high school Sewing teacher)

I did take in the waist a little on the side seams so it would fit better, then I just simply finished the top raw edge and turned under, pinned, ironed, and sewed a topstitch.  If I had wanted to make Bertie's new waist have a little more substance, there are several options I could have done using elastic, some interfacing, etc, but I chose the easy route for this project.



And here is the new and improved Bertie: 

please excuse my wrinkled shirt, I had worn this to work and stuffed it in my gym bag when I changed to walk after work and pulled it back out to photograph.


As you can see, her ruffle is there, but not with a lot of volume - bummer.

Bertie is a nice, cool and comfortable little number that sits below the waist.  I am thinking she and I had a nice reaquanitance.  She will be a good go to skirt this summer!
 

I wasn't sure how the whole button thing would turn out, but I kind of like the button detail.




And Bertie may still be a little matronly with not-a-lotta volume, but by golly she will still attempt to do a little twirl every once in a while!




I think I will rename her Brazen Bertie! ;)

Okay, so tell me what you think about this tutorial...any more ideas for Bertie?  Anyone else want to try a Nifty and Thrifty project? I'd love to add your tutorial!

I have another dress that I plan to refashion in a different way so I welcome any feedback I can use for the next Nifty & Thrifty.  




Bertie is linked up over here!
Check out the other great tutorials.
Join  us Saturdays at tatertotsandjello.com for the weekend wrap up  party!

6.16.2010

root a-toot tutorial

I have a nifty & thrifty tutorial coming at you soon. 

I've become inspired by this blog: New Dress a Day
She has taken 365 days, 365 dollars to create 365 dresses...and taken an oath not to buy any traditional clothing for a year.

Clever, no?

So I am going to give this a go on a much smaller scale and maybe add a tutorial every now and then because:
Number 1: I am cheap thrifty!
Number 2: I need to either get rid of some crap clothes.
Number 3: I need to use my sewing machine so I will quite having to dust the darn thing.

So I'm hoping to bring some fun little tutorials to the blog and maybe someone else will be inspired to refurbish some of their own items.

I actually wore my nifty & thrifty number today to work.  Even got a few compliments. yay me.

stay tuned....


PS.  Don't forget about the giveaway right here!

6.15.2010

A class you should take for reals

This girl oozes with talent and she has some of the coolest/wildest/funnest ideas imaginable!  If you are looking for a fun little summer art journaling/photography/scrapbooking project, look no further. (not sure why I am using slashes instead of commas - just being a punctuation rebel I suppose).

I actually came across a fun little mini-book over the weekend that Kara had prompted on her old blog (I was following her when she was an "old lady" ;)  It was called Look UP (I think) and it centered around pictures of the sky and clouds.  I wrote some real profound stuff in there I tell ya!

Her class registration opened yesterday and I can say without a doubt it will be a great class - one that you will look back on in 2 or 3 years and think, "man, I am very profound!"


6.14.2010

Crochet Candy that is proud to be an American

So I finally completed new flowers with a twist for the upcoming Independence Day.
I have more in the works, so I would love any feedback - good or bad! 



As you can see, I added a little USA love to these flowers.   Thought they would be a nice touch for the upcoming Independence Day or anytime you want to show a little patriotic love of the wonderful Country God has allowed us to live. 





Krystal had asked on a comment earlier about how to learn to do these -or- if I would do a tutorial.  
So I thought I would answer that here!

Honestly, there is no magical secret to these flowers, I simply found a crochet flower tutorial online and adapted it to something I thought was cute and wearable.  There are tons of pictorial and video tutorials to learn the basics of crochet and these are made with several basic stitches. My advice...pick yourself up a crochet hook and some yarn Google "crochet flower tutorial" and give it a go!

Practice, practice, practice!




Wanted to give you a little peek of the backside of the Crochet Candy.
I like to call it Crochet Candy Unplugged -   *grins*




As you can see, it's all nice and covered back there with some felt and contrasting stitches - Hey, everyone likes cute underthings right? hehe




I just add a basic pin back, and some finishing touches and they are good to go.  

I have also customized some hair clips for some cuteness of the hair! 

So here they are all packaged up!
{I know, I know, the star for the "O" was a bad idea! That's what spontaneity can do!}



Let me know what you think, these little babies are ready to go. 
Ten bucks +shipping can get you one just in time for July 4th!

It's a BRIGHT LIGHT kind of giveaway!

That's right, it's giveaway time.  If you are like me, you love yourself a good giveaway...am I right or am I right?

Well this one will certainly turn on the LIGHTS in your world! ;)

Have you figured it out from my hints?

Okay, here are the deets:

I'm so excited that CSN Lighting Stores has asked me to participate in this fun little giveaway.  You have the opportunity to win a $40 gift certificate to their awesome store which is chock full of every kind of light you can imagine!  I have found several lovelies already that I would love to have LIGHT up my world.

There is seriously a huge array of options...I love these ultra cool pendant lights and that $40 g/c would make a nice dent in it.
 


And there are lots of options that the $40 g/c would pretty much cover like this cool floor lamp:


Keep in mind that you will have to pay any shipping charges.  All my Canadian readers (ha - as if I have a ton, but I a girl can dream right?) may have international fees for certain products.  Just so you know.

CSN has other stores too!  From furniture to home decor to cool pet stuff....and CSN is very affordable prices too...

So now you are asking yourself, "Self. I wonder how I enter this awesome little giveaway?"

Well, it really easy.  Just leave me a comment on this post with your email address and one delightful thing about yourself.

Oh, yeah, and if you want more chances to win...you guessed it,... tweet it, update your facebook or a blog post with a link up back over here.  Simple Simon!

AND, in honor of my handy dandy new blog badge I made, you can post that on your blog for an extra 5 entries!  It's over there on the left.  Just copy that code and display it on your blog.

Just please link up a new comment with a link to your twitter post, facebook, blog, etc so you can get full credit for you extra posts.

We'll give this until Friday at midnight (my time, Central Standard). 

That's it!
In honor of this post I leave you with an oldie but a goodie cause you guys light up my life!






OH, and don't forget to check back tonight (Monday) to see the full Crochet Candy reveal! swell then.

6.13.2010

coming soon

just a few pictures through my Crochet Candy process:


I suppose you can guess these are some for our upcoming US Holiday! 


In fact, I have done put a little extra into these just for someone wanting to show their patriotic spirit!
I'm only making a limited number of these, so let me know if you are interested. 
  
Full reveal Monday night.  Right now, my poor Angus needs a haircut.

ALSO, come back tomorrow if you are interested in a giveaway from this groovy spot. 
CSN Stores yippy skippy!


Week 24

Too hot to do an outside shot this week, so I took advantage of the (almost) entire Reader's Digest collection of books of my Granny's that my Mom has and the pretty light in my Mom's bedroom to set up this back-lit shot of my in my Mom's readers and one of the pretty bound books. 

I'll be honest, I am not a bookworm by any means, but I think I look the part. No?
;);););););)

6.11.2010

indecisive

So I've changed my blog banner today ....... FIVE TIMES!!!

In wanting to come up with a cute, catchy name for the blog that encompasses exactly what this blog is all about I have made several lists.

At first I thought I'd keep it Kim's Point of View & Cre{8}ions 
too long

Then I started thinking about another named for my point of view or thoughts and came up with the word Notion.  Perfect!  It describes a thought I might PLUS it describes sewing supplies!

So, I changed it to Kim's Notions & Cre{8}ions
Nope, just not feeling that.

Hmmmm, I have always liked the word twine - it just sounds so simple and old-fashioned, and it sorta*kinda is another word for yarn, right?

Yes, so I'll call it Kim's Notions & Twine
I like it!
In fact, I even made a cutesy little blog badge that I was going to post over in there for others to grab if they felt inclined.

See!  Cute huh?

Kim's Notions & Twine


 

Then I thought if I didn't know me, would I understand me?
Am I becoming a wee bit obsessive here?
Probably!

Anyway, I decided to ditch the twine.  I know, I know, it is a cool word, but  -

How about Kim's Notions & Wild Ideas?
I do have lots of crazy ideas...with crafts, photography, food, family and life.

I went ahead and left the present banner for the night with a different font and an updated picture of my Crochet Candy- decided I'd wait and sleep on it and look at it again tomorrow with a fresh brain.

Any feedback is more than welcome!

 ETA: hit me late last night: Clever Notions.  me likey

6.10.2010

(I)scream

Is there really any more to say?
There really is probably not any more to say, but if you know me at all, you know I always have to say something more! :)


After a great lunch meeting today in Mammoth Spring (home of the Spring River) we -we being my friend and co-worker, Suellen and I- treated ourselves to the ice cream shop that was in the same restaurant. 

Spring Dipper ice cream is incredible!  The people that own both establishments are super nice and he makes the ice cream there.  I just could not decide, so I indulged in the sampler!  5 mini-dips of your choice.  Heck, I cannot even tell you what these are, but I can tell you one thing: DEEEEE-licious!

6.09.2010

Sweet Tweet

No, I don't mean one of my Twitter posts - even though I'm totally obsessed with Twitter. 
Hard to believe it's been over two years that I've been happily tweeting. 
(Feel free to follow my ramblings and sometimes occasional positive tweets.) 





The sweet tweet I'm referring to tonight came from the little guy in the picture this evening when I took my camera out to try to capture the pretty pink sky. (major fail on that shot).

He was singing.  


Quite loudly actually.  


Then he just flew away.

More crochet this evening.  A few little July 4th goodies are in the works. :)

6.07.2010

head spins

I don't know if it's a symptom of being an "artsy-crafty" type or what, but lately my head is spinning with new ideas.  Problem is I cannot make it stop long enough to get a grip on which direction I should take.


I just have this feeling that I'm missing the boat on some of these ideas if I don't act now.



You know, like the infomercial where you have to call before the end of the commercial to get the free express shipping deal!  


 Am I alone in this feeling?