Moving On

Moving on is hard, really hard. We have moved on to our new home of Ohio. It is definitely going to take some getting used too. Transitioning from military to civilian is going well so far, but we aren't technically civilian for another month, haha. We have been here exactly a week and the entire move didn't go completely as planned but we made it safe and that is something to be thankful for! After several long exhaustive days/weeks. We are once again said goodbye to "home". A place where Little Lady has spent 85% of her life and learned to walk and talk. A place where Little Man spent almost half of his life and turned from a toddler to a boy, where he started his schooling journey in Kindergarten! The beautiful Pacific Northwest and the amazing people we have met over the last three years! So bittersweet! I am sad to leave but I am so excited to move on to our next journey! To all the people we are leaving behind, there are far to many to mention, we will miss all of you and remember, it is not goodbye, it is only see you later!!! 

We left Washington State last Wednesday. We were supposed to leave on Monday but one thing after another, we didn't end up leaving until Wednesday. Once we handed over keys, we were out of there. We got as far as Wyoming and then we had to stop. There was a blizzard and due to this blizzard, they closed the entire interstate from border to border. There was also a huge accident (that we very well could have been in if we had left on time). We decided to call it an early day. The next day it was still closed so we decided to detour through Denver! That's when we actually got to see snow! Huge snow flakes! We also drove through about 40 miles of single lane dirt hilly road in a moving truck. That was interesting to say the least! It was pretty smooth sailing from there, minus the fact that I was down with a nasty chest cold!

Everything is well with Little Man and Little Lady! They are loving living close to cousins. It's good for them! I am 29 weeks pregnant with Little Baby! Only 11 more weeks (give or take a couple) till we can meet her! We are not fully unpacked as we are staying with family until we can find a suitable, more permanent place! I am just itching to get some crafting and some shooting in! Hopefully I will be able to soon! I have restarted my 101 in 1001, you can check it out here! And I have a birthday project project that I'm working on as well! You can check those posts out here! Till next time

Coffee Cozy! 25 by 25 Project 3!!

With moving so so soon, I completely forgot about teacher gifts for my kids teachers! Such a slacker, I know! So with the kids last day today and tomorrow, I needed something I can whip up fast and easy. In fact I made five of these in just a couple hours! You can find the pattern here on an awesome blog called Weekend Pursuits! I originally found the pattern on Ravelry! These work up beautifully!

I paired them with reusable Starbucks cups and they made great teacher gifts! I love killing two birds with one stone so this is also part of my 101 in 1001. Number 12 is to complete 25 yarn projects!!! This is the first one! 

Well we leave in about 10 days. So things are about to get crazy! Wish me luck! Till next time! 

25 by 25 Project 2!!

Since I made an awesome cover for my sewing machine! I wanted a little mat to put underneath my sewing machine! I wanted it to have pockets for my most used tools while sewing! I found the idea on Pinterest, I didn't use a certain pin, I used a combination of ideas to make exactly what I wanted! Here is how it came out!

I have a couple regular sized pockets and a small narrow pocket for my scissors and a larger pocket that juts out a little bit for scraps! I love it and it makes sewing easier with all my tools right there! 

Since this is a sewing project! This also goes with my 101 in 1001! Number 13 which is to complete 25 sewing projects! Also number 67, which is to make 100 things inspired from Pinterest!

We are about to start our cross counrty move so I don't know that I will get anything done in the next couple of weeks, but stay tuned! I will be back!! Till then

25 by 25 Project!!

So I'm doing a birthday project! 25 projects by my 25th birthday! I got this great idea from a friend who did it a couple years ago (shout out Tonya!!!) My birthday is June 19th so that gives me about 2.5 months! I am going to try to mainly do projects I already have in mind, things that need done, or that I already have the supplies for!!

My first project is a case for my brand new sewing machine!!! I got the idea from Pinterest of course! The pin is here!!! I kind of just used hers as a visual example and free handed it! My sewing machine came with a large extension table and I wanted to make sure I could keep it as well as the pedal and cord all together! My machine also already came with a white boring hard case, so I wanted this one to just fit over top of the hard case it already had! Here is what I came up with!

So this is Project 1 of 25!! 

Since this is a sewing project! This also goes with my 101 in 1001! Number 13 which is to complete 25 sewing projects! Also number 67, which is to make 100 things inspired from Pinterest!

I'm planning on another sewing project tomorrow, so keep tuned for that!! Till then

612 Days

Wow, when life gets busy, 612 days can pass and you totally neglect your blog! Sorry friends! Well I'm back! To update, we have been in Washington for almost three years! We will be moving cross country to Ohio in about a month! Little Man is now 6 years old and Little Lady is 3.5! And guess what?! We have another on the way! Little Baby will be here in July! It's a girl and we have a name picked out for her but we will not be announcing her name until her arrival! Just like we did with Little Lady. In the coming days I will be totally revamping the blog! I have a new project I'm working on and I will be restarting my 101 in 1001! Totally excited!

         Till next time

Pinsperation Project Week 1!!

I'm so excited to get this 52 Pinsperation Project started! To kick it off I made a Red Riding Hood Cape! For those who have been around for a while, you might remember the Red Riding Hood cape I made for Little Lady back in October! I loved the pattern so much that I've been itching to make one for myself. Again, what am I going to do with a cape?!?! So when a couple friends hosted a Murder Mystery Dinner Party (HUGE fun by the way), I decided that was my chance! Again huge thanks to Angel over at Fleece Fun for both child size and adult patterns!!!

So here is my adult Red Riding Hood Cape:

I love this pattern! The only things I did differently was that I used flannel on both sides instead of  fleece/jersey! I also made it a little longer by extending it out past the pattern! I used flannel because it is way to hot for fleece in July! Thanks to my friend Lauren for being my model! 

Now I'm going to see what I can do for Week 2! If you don't know about my 52 Pinsperation Project click here and find out! We are having so much fun!

Pattern by www.fleecefun.com
Direct Link for Red Riding Hood Cape
Link for Original Pin on Pinterest

52 Pinsperation Project!

Yes, I know. I'm restarting again! Third times the charm, right?!?! This time I created a group on Facebook ( which you can find here) and recruited some awesome friends ( and they recruited some more awesome friends) and we are all going to do it together and keep each other accountable! I'm sooo soooo excited! 
Those that actually follow my blog will know that I am absolutely horrible about keeping up! I was great at doing the pins, but horrible at blogging about it. I'm also the kind of person to hold things about me in, about me, how I feel. I feel this blog would be great at helping with that, IF I would actually blog. So this will not only be a pin project but a blogging project too! Can you tell I'm excited!!! 

So about the 52 Pinsperation Project! You simply choose one pin a week and DO IT!!! Whether it be a craft, an organization tip, a work out or recipe. ANYTHING as long as it is a pin on Pinterest! It's never too late to join us so click the group link in the previous paragraph and join us!! To find out more, see my 52 Pinsperation Project, see the blogs participating and add your blog to the participant list go to my 52 Pinsperation Project page!

Again I'm pretty excited about this and hope everyone joins!!!

Daily routine, 52 Pins and a birthday project!

Okay, so procrastination is not really the reason I have not blogged in a little over 3 months. It's honestly because I am lame, haha. I've just had so much going on. And my life was so jumbled that I didn't have time to do the things I needed to do, let alone things I wanted to do. I got fed up and that's when I really started using my daily routine! What a difference it has made!!! Seriously!!! Of course, it doesn't always go as planned and that is totally okay! It's given me a rhythm to work too. It's still a work in progress, but isn't everything?

Okay so thanks to some inspiration I got from an awesome friend, I will be doing a birthday project challenge, but I will be taking it up a notch! I plan on doing/finishing one project per day for 23 days leading up to my 23rd birthday! My goal is to use as many projects/supplies from my stash as possible:) I start tomorrow!!! I will probably not be able to blog everyday, but I will blog at least once a week! I will get better at this blogging thing!!!

Also on my birthday I will be restarting my 52 week Creations from Pinsperations:) I definitely forgot to take pictures of all the gift I made for my family and my pins just got all screwy, so I'm starting over on the 19th of June and that is that!

Pin 30 of 52:)

Once again I'm taking a pin and totally running away with it. Okay, not really, but you get what I mean. I seen this pin (and I'm planning on doing the actual pin too) for putting fabric on a cookie sheet to become a pretty magnet board. Cool right?!?! Then I seen a cork board at the store and I'm thinking "Heck yes!" So I made this pretty cork board instead:)

I was planning on putting it horizontal at first but then I realized I had the same fabric in pink so I'm going to get another cork board and put it up right next to it:) I thought about doing a step by step tutorial, but it's so simple to do that I decided to forgo that for now. All I did, seriously, was hot glue some fabric on a cork board, haha. Maybe I'll do a tutorial when I get the second one up:) Keep a look out for that:)

If you haven't caught my previous posts I'm doing a Pinterest project called 52 Pins. I'm doing one pin a week for a year. I'm a little behind right now because we just moved, but I've been doing the pins (promise) but haven't been able to blog them. Oh my busy but AMAZING life as a mother and wife:) Wouldn't have it any other way:)

          

Finally!!!

Okay, for real, one of these days I will get caught up! I have pins, I promise! I just need to get them blogged! Seriously, with moving and trying to get settled in a new house it's been crazy. I'm JUST NOW, after almost two months getting all of my crafting stuff unpacked. I HAVE been crafting, pffttt I couldn't go two months without crafting. And I've also been super busy with my photography business! I'm sooo excited to announce that as of Valentines Day, I am officially and finally licensed in Washington! Frozen Moments Photography will fully be up and running on the 1st of March! I'm soooo excited! I've been busy trying to get my website up and running and all the business side of my photography all set up! I'm so excited! Now I just need to get into a routine and a daily flow. Working on balancing my time between my little family and my little business:) That is going to be a big challenge for me. But that's for another post! In celebration, I'm going to be building a new desk:) Keep an eye out for that:) Till then

Time Management.

So I feel like this blog has been take over by my pins. And what can I say, life is busy as a mother and wife so I don't get much time to blog about much else. That is one thing (among like 3984523 things) that I'm working on. Time management. I'm working on getting a routine down, so that I can manage my time wisely. I mean come on, I have a 3 year old, a 1 year old, a husband, dishes, laundry (a whole house in general) on top of working on getting my license to make my Photography business legit, trying to finish school, and keeping active on this here blog! So I start my morning at 445am. Well that's when my alarm first goes off:) I actually am up and going at 5am that way I have time to shower and get a devotional in before the kids wake up. I like being able to have that me time before the kids wake up! My day typically ends about 1030. That's when I try to get some sleep. Everything is between is usually a toss up, haha. That's why I want to seriously get a routine for the kids and I to follow. Of course I'm going to go to my main source of research for things like this. You guessed it, Pinterest! I'll let you know what I come up with) Till then

Happy New Year and an over due break!

      Well Happy New Year! I know,  I am 11 days late. I have touched my computer maybe 3 times in the last two and a half weeks and that was only to print some things. I've been taking some much needed time getting moved in. Although we have been in our new place for about 2.5 weeks I still don't feel like we are settled. I mean most everything is unpacked and where it needs to be, just getting the settleing feeling. I can't find it. Haha. I do have 20+ boxes and bags of craft stuff left to unpack. Maybe thats my issue:) I promised myself I wouldn't unpack my craft things until everything else is unpacked. Because as soon as I unpacked my craft stuff I knew I would just want to craft. I need to spend a day getting my laundry in order and then I will start unpacking my craft stuff! Then I have a mile long list of things that need done. First of which is to get the box of homemade gifts that need to go out to our families. I know, I suck! With the move, I never got them out! I totally epically failed. Life goes on! I will get them out soon! After getting pictures of them all! So I can post about all the pins I've done. I have kept up with them! I promise, but when life gets busy. I have my priorities!
       So on to the new year! So I don't make New Year Resolutions, I feel like if a change is something that needs to be changed then it will change and it wont be because its a new year and if not then it wasn't important enough to begin with! I do have goals for this year though! (And for those who say there isn't a difference, there definitely is). Among them is that I want to successfully finish a 365 challenge, also I want to get my license and get my photography business up and running here in Washington. I'm not making these goals because its a new year I'm making these goals because we recently moved and now that life is getting settled down its a convenient time for me:) Well I will be getting back to you sometime soon with a plethora of pins! Be on the look out! Till then

I am indeed alive....

Okay, so I know going almost three weeks with no post is NOT cool and I'm uber sorry about that. One of my goals for the new me (a post about that is coming soon:) is to get better at my blogging. And I think I've done better at it the last couple months (with the exception of this month, haha). And I have been keeping up with my pins but between the move and holidays, I have barely been able to sleep. You should see my inbox, haha. We only have about a third of the house unpacked. Seriously, if I ever mention moving the week before Christmas, someone please slap me! Never again! Total PITA! Anyways, I've getting a couple minutes to breathe so I'm updating here and then going to attempt to tackle my inbox, then going to work on designing a calendar. I will be posting more as life settles down, so stay tuned....

Hellllooooo!!!

So I promise I'm here! We are super busy getting ready to move in a week and a half. It's been pretty crazy! And I have been doing pins....I have a plethora of pins buuuuut they are all gifts. So after Christmas you will get hit with several pins, haha! I do have one that I'm almost done with that I will post in the next couple days. Seriously, it has been non stop either crafting or packing. And in between trying to spend as much time as I can with my little loves.  I love crafting, it's definitely one of my passions but it's something I can't do with the kids in the same room. There is my sewing machine, hot glue gun, iron, pins, and all sorts of little things that can't end up in little hands. Luckily Hubby has been able to watch the kids while I craft and I'm excited to get my crafts done, but I feel like I don't see the kids. Yes, I'm just in the next room and no, I'm not holed in my craft room all day but I'm not with them as much as I usually am. It's only like an hour or so in the evening and it's nice to have the me time. I'm such a mommy, haha. This is why I don't have a job:) I feel like I would miss out on sooo many precious moments with my children! Anyways, I guess that is part of life for a mother and wife:) Keep a look out for my quiet book pin in the next couple days:) Till then

Pin 29 of 52 and a move:)

So I know my blog is getting run over with pins! It's kind of ridiculous. As soon as we get settled into the new place it will get better:) Oh by the way we are moving again. I know, I know. We have only been here 6 months! It's gone by super fast and has been amazing! I know I need to get more on this blog and get into the groove. So we will be moving in one month. Just 15 minutes away, no big move again. But I'm excited. We will be living on base and we will get a garage:) Yay! Anyways on to my pin!

So for this Pinsperation I've combined a couple different pins. There is this pin, where they framed fabric and used that as a decoration. Then there is this pin, where Kathryn over at I Can Find the Time put a pin cushion on her sewing machine. I LOVE the idea of putting a cushion on the sewing machine. I usually take them out as I'm sewing and throw them in the tomato but it's hard having something so little and moves so easily. Here comes the but, haha. The way my machine is set up I can't get a cushion situated on there. So that's when I combined the two and this is what I came up with!

It's a pin cushion frame! I love it because it's in an actual frame and I can set it up right next to the sewing machine and it's simple and fantastic! I did do step by step tutorial for you but it's super super simple. 

You will need: 

a frame with glass and back (either 4x6 or 5x7) the one I have is 4x6

handful of stuffing

scrap of fabric, mine is 10x10 and it would definitely fit either size

some pins

I have a frame that has somehow gotten the preview picture stuck to the glass. So this was the perfect frame for this project. Also I only ended up using about half of the stuffing shown!

Okay the first step is to take the back and glass out of the frame and set them aside for the moment. Lay the frame face down and lay the fabric right side down on the fabric like so...

The next step is to stuff the stuffing into the frame so it sticks out past the frame about 2-3 inches.

Next place the glass in as you normally would. You might have to finagle it a little bit because you have the fabric in between the glass and the frame. I know mine has little groves that hold the glass. I taped the fabric to the back of the glass just to make it easier, but you don't have too.

Then put the back on and voila!!! You have an awesome pin cushion frame!!!

I love how this turned out so much, I'm going to make one as a present:) I'm working on an apron this next week, so keep an eye out for that:) Till then

Pin 28 of 52

So I'm getting a late start on my Christmas presents! But I'm earlier then last year, haha. I have 5 nieces and nephews. Four of which are old enough to use crayons.  So when I seen these nifty crayon and notebook holders on Pinterest I knew they would be perfect for them. I started making these how the tutorial shows and I ended up not liking it so I did it a different way. I usually end up straying from the actual instructions:) Here is what I ended up with. 

I made different colors for the girls and the boys. 

I love how they turned out. My sewing machine started giving me trouble so I wasn't able to finish the last one but that is the extra one I made for Little Man so that can wait while I try to figure out whats going on with my machine:) When I get to his I may do a tutorial. Another gift I'm making is kind of a mix of two pins so look for that in the next week!! Till then

Pin 27 of 52

So I'm killing two birds with one stone again:) Here is a new recipe for my 101 in 1001 task number 25. Well if you want to be technical this really isn't a recipe per say buuuut it is a food. So that counts right?!?!
I seen the pin for little ham and cheese sliders on Pinterest  and knew Little Man would love them. He love "sammiches" and these are perfect for little hands:) I did stray from the pin (like I always do:) and I used american cheese instead of swiss but they were super yummy:) And of course Little Man loved them!

Make it with some tomato soup and it's faaaabulous:) 

Pin 26 of 52:)

I'm so excited to have made it halfway to our 52 pins:) I'm seriously hoping to be done by June 1st and then I will restart on my birthday which is the 19th! Buuut if I end up ending early, I'll just restart:) I'll have to come up with a better name:) I'm also soo excited for Fall!!! Okay so I do live in very rainy state so not only do I have cold but I also have rain. But hey, I'm totally okay with that. The last 11 years have been heat and sun and virtually no rain in Ga. I seriously think that I've seen more rain in the last month then in the last 11 years. Seriously it RARELY rains in Ga. Buuuut anyways, back to it being fall! I LOVE fall so when I seen a pin for a white chili on Pinterest today, I had to try it! And it was fantastic! I did change it up a little but because this is actually not a crock pot recipe and of course silly me didn't realize that until I had got all the ingredients out at 11 am this morning. Oh well, I threw is all in anyways, haha. It turned out AMAZING!

Excuse the instagram picture! I was sooo excited about this that I forgot to take a picture with my actual camera but my iPhone takes pretty good pictures:) 

Here is the recipe that I used:

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 medium onion, chopped

1-1/2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 cans of great northern beans, rinsed and drained

1 can chicken broth ( I use a packet of powdered chicken broth)

1 cans chopped green chilies

1 can butter beans 

1 can of kernal corn

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

I seriously throw everything in the crockpot on high for 4 hours. Add some corn bread and it's the perfect fall meal:) Easy peasy. Like I like it:) 

Not only is this a pin it's also a new recipe toward my 101 in 1001 goal number 25, which is to learn 50 new recipes:) Check them out at the links in above:) 

Pin 25 of 52

Laundry soap! Oh how fast I go through laundry soap. Even with my laundry schedule of only doing 1 load a day with everyone having their own laundry day and what not I still go through a ton of laundry soap. Granted I do probably use more than I should, but I've really weird about my clothes being clean. Any-who about two years ago I tried making my own laundry soap. I made this liquid that was more of a gel then a liquid and well I just was very skeptical. I didn't like it. At all! I didn't feel that my clothes were getting clean no matter how much detergent I put in there. I didn't like the idea of powder. I always had used liquid, my mom used liquid growing up, it was just what I was used too. So I didn't look into it anymore I just went back to buying my Gain and moved on with life. Fast forward 2 years and I'm into Pinterest and see a pin (here) for homemade powder laundry soap with only 6 ingredients for only about 20 bucks. I liked the idea, pinned it and moved on. I kept seeing it getting pinned and I finally broke down and made a small batch in August to see if I would like it. I loved it! LOVED it. I made about half a batch and it lasted about 3 months. This time I will do a legit break down to see how many loads I get and this and that. Here are the ingredients that I used:)

          1 (4 lb 12 oz) Box of Borax- Found in the detergent aisle 

          1 (3 lb 7 oz) Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda- Found in the detergent aisle

          2 (14.1 oz) Bars of Laundry Soap- Found in the detergent aisle (excuse the fact that I have Ivory     soap. My smart self didn't think about it not being laundry bar soap until after I grated it. I used Fels Naptha)

          1 (2 lb) Box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda- Found in the cooking aisle

          1 (55 oz) Bottle of Purex Crystals Fabric Softener- Found in the detergent aisle ( This is optional but I love love LOVE this softener and figured if I'm going to throw it in anyways I might as well just mix it in. Also even though I have two pictured here I only used one because I divided the whole thing in half because I don't use softener on our cloth dipes)

          2/3 (2 lb) Container of OxyClean- Found in the detergent aisle. (This is totally optional as well but I definitely recommend using it:)

And here is a breakdown of the price I paid:

Borax - 3.38 

Washing Soda - 2.58

Fels Naptha - .97 each- 1.94

Baking Soda - 1.38

 Purex Softener - 6.59

OxyClean - 7.97 - (since I only used 2/3) 5.32

Total 21.09

Of course the prices of things will vary depending on where you are. But I figure for 22 bucks (rounding up) for at least 6 months, you can't go wrong. Okay, so I probably should have sat and figured this out before hand but what the hay! Okay so if I do 5 loads a week for 6 months that is 120 loads that is still only 17 cents a load. I think I will get more then 6 months and 120 loads out of it and I will be keeping track of it this time so I will get back to you on the actual break down:)

One reason I love this is because it's soooo easy. Like, seriously, all you do is grate the soap (the hardest part) and mix it together . Bada-bing bada-boom & done! I take a couple extra steps to divide it because I don't wash our cloth diapers with softened so half of it doesn't have softener. Then I take 1 more extra step to put it in containers so I'm not having to scoop out of a big container:) Here is the final product:)

I love Purex softener containers because they are easy to handle, they hold quite a bit and they have a measuring lid. The original blog says about 2 tablespoons which equals the middle line of the cap will do it. I usually fill it to the top line and sometimes I'll add in another one that's filled to the first line. (Again, I'm weird about my laundry getting clean). Simple as that. 

Pin 24 out of 52

The kids love playing under the table. I don't know why, but they do. Whatever, it makes them happy. So when I seen this pin of a play house table cloth, I decided it was perfect! I found the most adorable fabric with little owls. I was trying to find something gender neutral but still cute. I was so excited about getting it done and all that I forgot to take pictures with my actual camera but I did get some on my iPod for Instagram:) So they aren't the best quality but hey at least I have pictures. Again, I didn't do a
picture tutorial because this was only my second big sewing project so I'm still growing:) Here is a work in progress

And here it is done:)

It will get windows but that will be another project for another time:) The kids LOVE it. It needs washed and  then I will get pictures of them with it:) Till then