Out of Pocket

Hello friends - the shop is on vacation mode for a few days. And since I misplaced my superwoman cape I'm going to put the blog on vacation mode for a few days too.  But as we all know there is no such thing as vacation for a mom. It's just a different type of adventure involving children and lots of patience (and hopefully some fun too).

Minecraft Throw Pillows with HTV

Today I'm over at My Vinyl Direct sharing a tutorial for Minecraft Throw Pillows. Go check it out!

If you'd like to try making your own, I have provided the minecraft silhouette studio file I created on my google drive. It's not quite perfect, but it worked for me. :)

Thankful Thursday - Safety

This week I had a near car accident. I was driving on a two lane road at 50 mph and noticed a car coming towards me (also at about 50 mph). The driver was apparently distracted because the 1/3 of the oncoming car was in my lane. I swerved and they noticed they were drifting badly and corrected. No one was hurt (and I stayed on the road), but my heart was racing for a few minutes.

So let's all remember when driving that driving safely is number one priority. Don't let electronics (cell phone, mp3 player, whatever) put our safety at risk. Now if only screaming children were as easy to turn off as electronics........

Marvelous Monday - Gallery Ledge Shelves Complete!!

Thanks to plenty of pinterest posts and inspiration I decided to bite off a big project. I followed the instructions from Shanty 2 Chic. (The original instructions are found at Ana-White.com.) I don't have a kreg jig so I just used screws to put it all together. I painted the shelves with the same paint I used on the wall. Then I myself (with my girls holding the shelf up while I drilled and screwed) put the shelves on the wall.

The good: I LOVE having room to display pictures, artwork, chore charts, recent craftiness, etc. I LOVE being able to easily change it out. I love not having to straighten pictures after every door slamming event (yes my perfect little angels occasionally slam doors). I love putting covering my thermostat. AND Mr. South even says he likes it!

The bad: this project took me SOOOOOOO long. I'm glad I bought the wood already cut to size. And I probably could have skipped using the round over bit on the top edges of the shelf (not in the tutorial, but if you own a router ya' gotta' use it, right?). But this seriously took my 5 different 1-2 hour sessions to complete. Probably not such a lengthy project for others, but with my particular crew (ages 11, 9, 7, 5, and 2) that was the best I could do.

The ugly: the screws attaching the shelves to the wall. I didn't bother to paint over them or anything because I figure they will be covered by all the pictures and artwork.

Kaleidoscope Card - a Silhouette project

Inspired by a kaleidoscope I created this "card." Really it's a bunch of squares with 6 pointed patterns that can be interchanged to create different kaleidoscope like creations. I used my Silhouette Cameo to design the shapes and cut them (and my handy sharpie for the sentiment because I'm that crafty!).

Kaleido Card Arrangement 1

Kaleidocard Arrangement 2

Kaleidocard Components

Cheap Sketch Markers for Silhouette Cameo

Thanks to a suggestion from a silhouette forum I discovered that dollar spot markers really do work in the silhouette! The challenge is figuring out how far down to place the marker in the little blue clamp. 

Sketch in Progress

Anchored in Perfection!

Simple designs work best. This one didn't work very well at all.

Thankful Thursday - RAOK (Random Acts Of Kindness)

It's Thankful Thursday and I've made a new rule for myself to challenge myself a little more. Here's my rule: I have to report something I'm thankful for that has happened in the past week.

A few days ago I was driving toward a red light and noticed a man get out of the passenger side of a big Texas size truck. He walked up to the car in front of him, closed the gas tank lid, and walked back to his truck. I was touched. It was a random act of kindness by a total stranger. (And I felt a little guilty for immediately questioning my safety.) Let's all try to be a little kinder to those around us (even with our thoughts) and look for opportunities to perform small but meaningful acts of service this week.