ramblings Archives - Crap I've Made

When Mountain Dew Flies…

June 29, 2011 By Char @ Crap I've Made 35 Comments

We had a *little* incident of sibling rage last week.

Keller threw a (plastic) bottle of Mountain Dew at his sister (because she’d dropped it in the toilet). He’s not a very good aim, and this happened:

(Let’s not even get into the part where a piece of glass got stuck in the top of my foot and it bled for close to an hour, mmmkay?)

That’s my sewing room light. It’s what the contractors included in their bid when they finished our basement. And, it’s BORING.

I decided to take this opportunity and girly up the lighting in there a bit.

And a non-illuminated shot:

Cute, right? I guess sometimes kid fights aren’t the worst thing ever….

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Filed Under: DIY, home decor, ramblings

Keeping It Real

March 9, 2011 By Char @ Crap I've Made 82 Comments

You know…because I usually don’t. Winking smile

I’m in the middle of a couple of projects that are not turning out as fabulous as they are in my head. And I’m annoyed. I’ve spent way more time on them than I intended to. One of them is not even for this site…it’s a guest post I’m doing elsewhere, which only adds to the pressure. And the annoyance.

So, in an attempt to clear my mind and do something else yesterday, I headed down to my sewing room. My sewing room is in the very furthest corner of the basement (sometimes I go a week or more without setting foot in the basement), so it’s out of sight and out of mind. Plus, you can shut the door and hide the mess. Usually.

View from the hall

I can’t believe I just posted that.

And it gets worse. Let’s start with this mess:

I had 2 lovely IKEA shelves mounted to the wall. Only my kids decided to use them for doing pull-ups. And they spontaneously (yeah right) fell off the wall, bringing all the contents down with them. Did I mention I had tiny little drawer units full of needles, sewing machine feet, snaps, etc on said shelves?

And then there’s this situation:

I know. I KNOW!

Someone dumped out my scrap bucket…

Really? That’s the least of my worries.

P.S. The remote for that TV is missing somewhere in the room, so I can only watch the one channel it’s stuck on (local CBS affiliate).

I spent 3 hours down there yesterday. I spackled. I vacuumed. I filled an entire big black garbage bag and 3 boxes for DI. And it’s still not done. Not even close.

I need IKEA. I need baskets and bins.

Or maybe I just need an intervention.

A bomb?

I WILL finish this. Hold me to it.

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Filed Under: home decor, organization, ramblings

Randoms

February 25, 2011 By Char @ Crap I've Made 4 Comments

You can find me today over at C.R.A.F.T. as part of their 5 on Friday series.

Today is the last day to enter the Impel Clothing giveaway. Go here to enter, if you haven’t already.

Super, super super awesome giveaway (think $150 value) in the morning. It’ll just run through the weekend, so be sure to check back. Want a clue?

And, the current Silhouette promotion (machine, black premium vinyl, frosted vinyl, transfer tape, home décor CD for $225 and/or 25% off premium vinyl) runs through Monday. Code “CRAP” will let you take advantage of the deal.

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Filed Under: ramblings

Five

February 10, 2011 By Char @ Crap I've Made 25 Comments

(Image courtesy of the fabulous Lei over at My Many Colored Days)

And what a year it’s been.

This is the year we learned about SPD.

This is the year we learned about Asperger’s.

This is the year you told us you could ride a bike without training wheels

(and you were RIGHT).

This is the year you took swimming lessons and faced your fear of water head on.

This is the year you scored your first goal.

This is also the year you tricked your mother into buying you an Ed Hardy shirt.

You take the good with the bad, right?

Happy birthday, Campbell.

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Filed Under: kids, ramblings

My Master Bedroom

February 9, 2011 By Char @ Crap I've Made 19 Comments

I’ve gotten some requests to see the rest of my house…a home tour of sorts. I can’t promise it’ll occur in a timely manner or even that I’ll get to every room, but I’ll see what I can do to give you a little peek every now and then.

And here’s my disclaimer: I don’t love my master bedroom. It’s not ME. Perhaps if I loved it I would have taken the time to move BC’s CPAP machine off of his bedside table? Winking smile

My master bedroom is large. It’s one of the main reasons we bought this house. In our old place you couldn’t even walk all the way around our queen bed.

I fell in love with the Farmhouse Canopy Bed from Pottery Barn

but I didn’t love the price (hint: well over $1600 with shipping).

Our bed came from The Wood Connection (a local unfinished furniture store) and is solid maple. We paid them to finish it for us and still came in under half price.

And, the other end…

Eventually we’ll get the outlet moved and the cords under control. It’s only been 7 years so far…

So what’s the point of this post?

I have no idea!

You asked and I like to encourage voyeurism?

Maybe you can make me love my bedroom?

Maybe this will motivate me to finally frame the TV and do something about the cords?

Maybe you learned that unfinished furniture stores are a great way to knock off Pottery Barn furniture for less?

See you tomorrow?

Open-mouthed smile

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Filed Under: home decor, ramblings

Finally Friday

February 4, 2011 By Char @ Crap I've Made 11 Comments

Thanks for all the sock suggestions! I’m glad to know that there are others who share my “issue”. And some of you are way, way way more organized than I will ever be. I watched some American Idol and tackled the sock baskets last night. I’m free!

We’ve got a big bunch of crazy this weekend, so most everything crafty is on hold. I’m so whacked out that I even hired a housekeeping service. And look what they did to my toilet paper!

(crappy cell phone pic)

My partner Lindy made it through the decoupage round of CWTS. Her project was this phenomenal chest.

She hand painted the branches and decoupaged the birds. Her project for this week’s baby theme sounds insanely awesome and ambitious as well! I’ll remind you when you can go vote.

And, there’s still time to go enter Knock It Off over at 733.

There’s also time to send me cookies to influence the judges’ decisions. Winking smile

Hope your weekend is fabulous!

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Filed Under: ramblings

A Confession

February 2, 2011 By Char @ Crap I've Made 153 Comments

My name is Char and I hate laundry.

Specifically, I hate matching socks. And, it’s gotten out of control.

Way way way way out of control.

See?

It’s too late for help. I think I’m going to buy everyone new socks and start over.

Yes, really.

So, do you have any tips to keep my from finding myself in this situation again in a few short months? (Especially if you have 3 little boys in a row who all wear white socks that look exactly the same, though apparently they’re not and leave them in weird places so complete pairs very rarely make it into the same load of laundry…)

Maybe I’ll just move to Hawaii and make them all only wear sandals.

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Filed Under: organization, ramblings

Randoms

February 1, 2011 By Char @ Crap I've Made 5 Comments

We’re in the midst of a big old bedroom swap and someone (hint: Bennett) has decided he does not enjoy his new bed and that he needs to tell me about it every hour or so ALL.NIGHT.LONG. So, things are a mess and I’m exhausted. I’ll have the scripture case tutorial (U of U or other embellishments Winking smile ) for you shortly.

In the mean time…

Voting for round 2 of CWTS ends tonight at 10 MST. Go vote, if you haven’t already.

Kim @ 733 (who designed my blog) is hosting a fun contest called Knock It Off. There are prizes (over $100 worth) and I’m one of the judges!

And, you can enter the Elk Dresses giveaway through Friday at midnight here.

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Filed Under: CWTS, ramblings

Resolving, 2011 edition

January 3, 2011 By Char @ Crap I've Made 22 Comments

Remember how last year I resolved to “buy more lamps”?

I think that went pretty well. I stepped out of my comfort zone A LOT last year.

I did a project for a magazine. (And an interview, where they were nice enough to leave out the parts that made me sound like a fool.)

I was on TV and I didn’t even curse!

I went to a couple of blog conferences and admitted to myself that I am indeed an actual “blogger”.

Here’s where I tell you all that 2010 kind of sucked. In fact, I’d say it was one of the top 2 worst/most stressful years for me in recent memory. It was right up there with 2003 (when we had a baby, moved twice, my dad died, I broke my knee cap and was housebound for 6 weeks…). Every 7th year is bad for us. You’ll probably want to keep your distance in 2017, just sayin’…

So, what’s my goal in 2011?

FIND THE JOY

I talked about learning to find the joy in my Mother’s Day post last year and I think it’s time for me to take a refresher course.

Dee Dee asked me what I wanted to accomplish in 2011 for her one question interview series. Here’s my response:

I want to visit Omaha.
I want to say NO more often.
I want to say YES more often.
I want to yell less and laugh more.
I want to DO more and worry less.
I want to take more naps.
And, I want to stop buying diapers for the first time since 2000.

What are you resolving?

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Filed Under: ramblings

2010, in review

December 31, 2010 By Char @ Crap I've Made 15 Comments

So, you know how all the really good blogs are doing a “Top 10” post? Those bloggers are obviously smarter than me and figured out how to install Google Analytics correctly. Mine didn’t start working until August and Stat Counter is ~~ghetto~~ more simple than that, so I’ve got nothing “official”.

I do, however, want to show you all this little gem from Stat Counter:

It’s been quite a ride. I’m thankful and overwhelmed.

Thank you for choosing to come here and read.

Thank you for saying hi to me when you see me out and about (even when I haven’t showered Winking smile ).

Thank you for the kind emails.

2010 Highlights

My personal favorites…there’s nothing scientific about this!

My favorite post of the year (not a craft in sight…just me waxing philosophical).

(Click on the pictures to go to the tutorials)

Here’s to a fabulous 2011!

(And don’t forget you can pick up a Silhouette for $175 through January 1st if you subscribe to the online download store. Use code “CRAP” to get the deal!)

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Filed Under: ramblings