Wednesday's What's Up With That!?

Although some of you are my facebook friends and may have already seen my grumpy post this morning - I thought I would repost as my Wednesday's What's Up With That!?

Why is that I have no problem falling into a deep deep sleep in the five minutes between my alarm sounding and my snooze alarm, yet lay awake for HOURS in the middle of the night? WHY!? WHY!?

I think I may be nocturnal.

Fanciful Friday - The Vintage Pearl

A fellow blogger recently hosted a giveaway of a piece of gorgeous jewelry from The Vintage Pearl.  Upon seeing the giveaway I had to checkout The Vintage Pearl for myself and I am completely in love with everything they make.  Here are a few of my favorites that I would love to have in my small yet growing jewelry collection.

(All photos are from The Vintage Pearl's website).  Please click on the photo to be taken to the product page on The Vintage Pearl's site to learn more.

Pearl Nest Ring

Messy Nest Necklace

Vintage Silver Charms Necklace (I would want T and E of course for Timmy and I)

Aren't these pieces beautiful!? Definitely on my wish list!

Thankful Thursday - Faith

My husband and I recently started attending a wonderful church, South Hills, in Corona, CA.  Not only is it a new church for my husband and I, but church is new all together for the both of us. 

Shortly after we got married we thought about how blessed we are and decided that we should start attending church.  Neither of us grew up in a family that attended church, so we in kind of blind.  Our church offered a class called First Steps which was basically an intro not only to the specific church, but kind of to religion as a whole.

Since about September 2010 we have been attending weekly and have greatly enjoyed our time thus far.  I recently read about a Bible study on a new blog that I am following (check it out here - Social Studies Momma).  She mentioned a Bible study that she picked up and invited others to join her in her study.  The book is titled For Women Only: The Bible Study (you can find it here).  Basically it is a book for women to better understand the men in their lives and guide them in providing the support the men need.  I am eagerly awaiting it's arrival in the mail and can't wait to get started.  Thank you to Social Studies Momma for the inspiration and letting me crash the party. 

My husband and I's new faith, I feel, has brought us closer together and has really taught us not only to respect each other, but how to love each other and appreciate each other on a new level.

I have also been volunteering weekly in the church's nursery since about November.  Although I joke that it's a natural birth control, I really enjoy showing the children God's love.

If anyone else wants to pick up this book I would love to discuss the contents of the study so we can learn with and through each other.

Spring Wreath (my 1st wreath)

So this is my first real attempt at making my own wreath.  It turned out all right.  I think I definitely have room for improvement though.  It does make me laugh that the eggs are larger than the bird, whom I have lovingly named Bridgett.  Thanks for looking!

2 special shout outs:
My inspiration from Craftomaniac
and
The Robins Eggs tutorial from Viv Spot

Tutorial Tuesday - Wooden Pallets

I'm so sorry I've been slacking on the Tutorial Tuesday's.  It's been a few very busy weeks for me.  Things seemed to have calmed down some, so I'm back at it. Yay. 

Well, as I've mentioned many, many times, my current family room is empty.  Completely empty.  I saw some fabulous furniture using wooden pallets and I think I just may go for it - to create a modern, industrial, yet chic vibe.  We will see.  The first step will be in finding affordable yet still in good condition pallets.  I have yet to find those. 

In the spirit of my wooden pallet quest, I thought I would share today a few tutorials on re purposing wooden pallets - which I think are WAY cool by the way!

First up is this terrific and versatile shelf.  Pretty cool, right!?

Next up is this amazing coffee table.  There are a lot of variations of wooden pallet coffee tables - just google it and you can find one to suit your own taste.  I like this one a lot - although I may leave mine in a more natural wood tone.

This vegetable planter.  Again there are a TON of planter ideas using pallets online, so check em out to find one you link, I like this simple one, plus I like that hte link includes a PDF with instructions :)

Check out this book! I must get my hands on this!

There are plenty more on the Internet and I'm not entirely certain what my wooden pallet get-up will entail - I suppose it depends on how many quality pallets I can come up with. 

As always, thanks for reading!

Another Moss Initial and a Burlap Banner

So my friend came over and stole picked up the moss initial that I had made for her which I had lovingly had on display at my house in the meantime (which I posted about here).  I decided it was high time that I make my own - but I decided to keep it a little more simple and hang it in my dining room on my new metal wall display we recently put up. 

Here it is all by it's lonesome.  Well I also have a frame hanging on the bottom that I picked up on clearance but I don't know if I love it yet. 

Well it looked lonely so I decided to make a simple burlap banner using a roll of burlap I had picked up at a yard sale.  I'm not thrilled with how it turned out, I think it needs more embellishments, but it's a start and at least adds a little more pizazz to my dining room.

The sign was simple - I printed a graphic of an isosceles triangle on my computer with the dimension that I wanted, I then cut that out and used it as a guideline to cut my burlap pieces.  I used a cricut cartridge to cute a scalloped circle and then a smaller circle and letters. 

So now, my fellow readers, I need your help - how can I improve upon this sign so that I love it? Please and thank you :)

DIY Button Egg

I got this adorable DIY idea (and tutorial) from one of my favorite blogs - Auntie Lolo Crafts (you can find her post here). 

I followed pretty much the same basic idea that she presented in her tutorial with only slight variation.

I purchased an ugly plain wood frame from the Dollar Store (which I immediately spray painted white).  I found a graphic of an egg through a google image search and traced it onto brown paper.  I then hot glued the burlap to the brown cardstock.  I realized I couldn't really see the egg outline so I took my cut out egg image and placed buttons in what I thought was an outline of an egg, then put the cut out over it and adjusted the buttons accordingly.  I glued the exterior buttons first and then filled in the rest.  I hot glued the buttons to the burlap once I had them in place where I wanted them.

Pretty easy and very cute.

A great addition to my work-in-progress Spring mantel :)
ps: I also hopped on the band wagon and got one of the adorable bunnies from Pier One which I added to my turquoise vase!

Thanks for looking!!!

Friday Five

Today's edition of Friday Five is the 5 projects I would like to finish or at least work on this weekend.

1) Another Monogram Moss wreath (the one I made here is actually a gift for a friend).

2) A Spring wreath - I've been sitting on most of the supplies but haven't actually done anything!

3) A Spring mini album - I started this nearly a month ago and have only gotten as far as covering the chipboard and printing the photos. It's time to get started!

4) Some research into wooden pallets for some possible furniture projects - strange, I know, but unique.  More details to come if I find the right pallets necessary for the project. Oh and they need to be free or cheap because I need a ton! lol.

5) Framed Easter Egg made out of buttons - an idea from a fellow blogger who I will link the tutorial up to when I actually make it.

This weekend is the first in a LONG time in which I have zero plans.  Zero.  Well, other than church.  It will be nice to perhaps get some of these crafts done and reclaim my dining room table.  Although it would also be nice to catch up on NCIS......

Friendly Friday

Want an awesome way to find great new blogs and get more traffic to your site in return!? Of course your answer is yes! Click out Friendly Friday button above to get the details! You can link up your blog below as well!

For those of you visiting me for the first time - my site is erratic - hence the name - but if you are crafter, check my left side bar for my keywords and click "crafts" if you don't want to read all of my other mumbo jumbo :)

Looking forward to meeting you!

Here are the link-ups so far!

Fanciful Friday

For my wedding I got some BEAUTIFUL ruffle bowls from Crate and Barrel that I am just in absolute love with.  I recently saw on C&B's website that they have now added a mini dip bowl and platter to the ensemble, which of course I have to have!

Ruffle Dip Bowl - for details click here. But I want like 8 - wouldn't these be adorable condiment bowls for a taco party? RECEIVED

Ruffle Platter - for details click here. It would be nice to have 2 of these on hand. RECEIVED 1

Now my mom recently was talking to me about my birthday and I suggested she check out my Fanciful Friday posts for ideas.  She made a good point in that I love to shop and often buy items for myself - so I will be updating my posts with a "PURCHASED" if I do indeed buy any of these items.  So if you are interested on my take on any items that indicate I have purchased them, feel free to ask - I always have an opinion (ha!).

"Your office is difficult to deal with"

Excuse me!?

My managing attorney is appearing at a Mandatory Settlement Conference this morning (an appearance required prior to Trials in family law cases).  Both opposing counsel and the claimant's counsel (claimant is the parties' son who is stating he has an interest in one of the residences, we say he does not), failed to show up for the last Mandatory Settlement Conference, so the Court, on it's own Motion indicated they would hear argument regarding sanctions at today's hearing.

Both opposing counsel and claimant's counsel submitted declarations that were total BS full of blatant out and out LIES. Some BS about traffic and that's why they didn't appear - oh really? Then why wouldn't you call the Court and advise them you were going to be late like we do all of the time? Also - why when I called you nearly 2 hours after the hearing was supposed to start to ask you where the heck you were - you told me you "assumed it was off calendar".  You forgot to mention that in your declaration.  You also were NOT stuck in traffic when I spoke with you. LIAR!

The attorney just texted me and said that opposing counsel told the judge that our office is difficult to deal with. HA!

Let's review, Opposing counsel has no fax, no physical address (PO Box only), no email address, and whenever we send anything by mail he alleges he doesn't get it forcing us to go to the expense of sending EVERY piece of correspondence to him by certified mail.  What else, oh ya, you lie. Constantly. About everything. 

We sent a discovery request, meaning that his client had to provide a ton of documents we were requesting for within 30 days.  After 25 or so days he calls and asks for an extra week, so it would now be due in 37 days.  On day 38, after receiving nothing we sent him a "meet and confer" letter indicating his response was now late, therefore, he waived any objections he may have had, and if we did not get the full response within 10 days we would file a motion to compel the response and request for attorneys fees.

Do you know what his response was? That he never got our discovery request.  You know, the one he had previously asked for an extension on.  Note - this was when we determined we would send everything certified mail.  We argued, filed a Motion and the Court didnt' order sanctions and gave him 20 days to comply.

After 20 days, no response.  He calls, said he's sick and needs more time.  Give him 5 more days.  He calls, now his dad is sick.  We give him 5 more days.  He calls, now his dad died.  We give him a week.  He calls, now his wife had a miscarriage, we give him another week.  He calls, said he's sick again, I say NO, we need it by the end of today period.  We finally get a box full of documents, unorganized, not in any kind of order as required. This was last month. Either this guy is the most unlucky SOB in the world or a giant liar.  I'm going with the later.

Now this mandatory settlement conference is today.  You're required to exchange a bunch of stuff 7 days prior.  We of course, get theirs and the claimants (ps the two attorneys are in bed together or something) documents YESTERDAY.  The DAY BEFORE.  Not 7 days before.  So I draft up an objection.  The rule states if the orders aren't followed sanctions SHALL be imposed.

So help me God, if the Court does not order sanctions against both of those lame-ass attorneys I'm going to scream.

Oh, did I mention the parties are in their 80's and I think the reason for all of this is that they want to keep stalling so that our client dies and their client and the parties' son can have everything? Pathetic.  Makes me sick.

YOUR office is hard to deal with!!!!!!!!!!!  I need a xanax or something.......

Wednesday's What's Up With That!?

Today's topic will be volunteerism.  I am involved in a wonderful community service organization for women.  It is a national organization known as Junior League (you can check out their website here).  I am involved in my local chapter and have been for the past 5 years. 

My frustration today is with the lack of follow through of people.  I understand this is a volunteer organization, but that is exactly what the organization relies on, volunteers.  Things come up, personal circumstances change, I get that...... but if you volunteer to handle something, and you are no longer able to handle that responsibility, notify someone immediately.  What ever happened to common courtesy? Don't just fall off the face of the planet - what's up with that!?  Not only is that frustrating, but it's a great disappointment and let down - people (and projects) were relying on your contribution that you said you would do. 

We start a new fiscal year in June, I do hope that there is a change. This is by no means a bash of the organization, as I truly do love the organization and what it stands for, it is more a bash of the trend in some people's failure to follow through on commitment.  This is just a few people, not a representation of the entire League, but in such a small league, we rely on each and every person, and even just one person dropping the ball so to speak, sucks.  I wouldn't mind if you told me as soon as you found out something changed and you were no longer able to commit, which would give us time to find someone else to fill your role - the problem is in not following through and not telling anyone about it. 

Sigh.

DIY - Moss Initial

I saw this on a blog I follow called Felt So Cute and had to try it out. I couldn't find a wood monogram "M" large enough to my liking so I recruited the assistance of the hubby to print out a big one on the computer which we taped four pages together to form an over-sized "M" which I traced onto a sheet of 1" Styrofoam.  I actually traced two as I am making one for a dear friend of mine who shares the same last initial as me.

I also don't have the patience to cut it out, so again the hubby used his awesome skills with a jigsaw to cut them out perfectly for me.

I love this man.

I didn't have green paint, but I had brown on hand and figured it would be good enough (the husband makes fun of me for saying "I will just paint it brown" about just about everything).

Anywho, here I am getting set up to start adhering the moss, which was a PITA, especially considering the fact that I am not super handy with a glue gun and am prone to burning my fingers.

Just barely started now.

Finished the front now.

Then I had to do the sides which were the biggest pain ever.

And here is the final product hanging up on my new wreath hanger on clearance from Michael's (sorry for the poor quality photo).

Thanks so much for looking.  It was a quite easy project - just quasi time consuming due to the moss and my issues with glue guns.  I rendered the assistance of tweezers at the suggestion of the tutorial which I found to make things much easier (and protective of my fingers).  Although I need some new tweezers now!

DIY - Unique Bridal Shower/Wedding Gift Idea

This framed art, featuring the date of the couples' big day is a super easy, but fun gift to give for a bridal shower or even a wedding. 

I am attending a shower this afternoon and had seen this idea several weeks ago on a fellow bloggers' blog (I am so sorry I forgot to make a note of who's blog this was, so if it was yours please contact me so I can add your link here).  I whipped this up in no time!

Here is a quick run down of how you can create this unique gift as well.

Supplies:
- nice frame featuring 3 photos all the same direction (I chose a frame with 3 5x7 photos)
- 3 coordinating designer papers (or you can stamp your own)
- a cutter to cut said designer paper to 5x7
- 1 piece of solid cardstock for the numbers (must know the wedding date!)
- a big shot or cricut cartridge with a font you like (I used my Cricut Storybook font - setting at 5")

Directions
1) cut your 3 background papers into 3 5x7 pieces
2) cut your numbers with the date of the wedding (I used a 5" setting as I felt it would be the perfect size for the 5x7 photos, if you have a smaller frame you may want to use a smaller font)
3) tape number onto center of background pages and place in photo windows

TADA! That's it! How easy is that!?

This would also be a cute gift for a new baby (of course after the baby is born so you get the right birth date).

Thanks for looking!