The Cajun Hillbilly Housewife

Worn OUT and changes GALORE!!

2011-09-14T23:02:00.000-07:00

As my kiddos get older.. my life gets busier.. and I imagine that will be the case for a long time to come.. This fall, in addition to homeschooling all 3 of them - we will have football, tumbling, and piano .. with football alone we usually have 2 practices and 1 game.. thats 3 days just for football.. and on those days I swear I feel like the day zips by and I hardly get anything done.. Here's some pics from our scrimmage last weekend:

Here's the boys taking a break on the bench

And Daddy on the bench with the boys.. he doesn't coach b/c of his work schedule but he does help out.

It was really hot out... we were out on the track in the blazing sun.. I didn't realize how long we had been out there until I got home and realized.. I had a farmer's tan:

I vowed that next time a tank top and shorts will be worn.. If I have to bake in the hot sun, at least I could get a half way decent tan too :-) The boys had a really good time that day - although we were all hot and hungry.. We also figured out that we need to start bringing a cooler to the games.. just a drink bottle isn't enough.. This is our first year in football - so there will be a bit of a learning curve for a while. I also want to mention Jas started piano last week - and the boys start tumbling this week.. There will most definately NOT be any rest for the weary anytime soon!! But I am trying to make the best of it!

I started a new personal journey starting in May of this year.. I decided I couldn't take being a fat, lazy, blob any longer.. I started exercising (I do it 4X a week), taking Advocare suppliments (see http://catchyourspark.com for my sister's website who is an Advocare distributor), and eating CLEAN. I don't eat any white starches (i.e. potatoes, bread rice)..I don't eat table sugar or anything that contains it except for once a week on my "cheat day" where I eat anything I want.. I DO eat whole grains, lean meats, nuts, and all the veggies and fruit I want.. so far so good.. I have so far lost 27.5 lbs.. even better than that I FEEL good.. in fact I feel awesome.. it makes me think - WOW if I feel this good now - imagine in 50 lbs from now at my goal weight!!Life looks so much brighter and my depression is all but a distant memory.. I cannot speak highly ENOUGH about clean eating.. I credit that for about 70% of my success.. for more details - just google "clean eating" - there is TONS of info out there.. these days I am not dieting but changing my lifestyle to one that I can live for a lifetime - not just a temporary fix... or a bandaide on fleshwound.

Another new change for me - I am taking a swapping hiatus from Swapbot.. I've been so fed up with all the flakers (people who receive but do not send out), ppl who send out their swaps WAY after the deadline and give lame excuses expecting clemency every time, ppl that kiss the butt of the admin who do VERY little, favortism the admin show to certain members despite the negative behavior of said individuals, and certain OTHER individuals that spend their days being contrary for contrary's sake and nothing else. I really don't think the admin realizes how negatively the rest of the swapping and crafty world views Swapbot.. time and time again I hear from ppl who say they wouldn't touch swapbot with a 10 ft pole bc of what I just mentioned.. and I don't blame them.. Sadly it's things that could be easily fixed, but for whatever reason the admin leaves things as they are - in a steep decline.. I am thankful for the friends I have made there and am keeping in touch with them in other ways. I will be swapping still - just not there.. And in the immediate future I want to do some RAKS, make stuff for my booth space in a shop in town, and start on some (gasp) Christmas presents...

On a creative note.. I am still hard at work at my art as always.. here are some things I made recently:

These are some ATCs I have made:

Here are some twinchies and rolos (altered rolodex cards):

And some postcard RAKs for friends:

And this is a package I put together for a tag on swapbot for a friend.. and YES those ARE handmade pasties:

Here's my current WIP (works in progress):

This is a dishcloth I am working on.. I hope to make some of these for my shop in town:

This is a freeform embroidery piece I have been working on for the last couple weeks.. I am really enjoying it.. it's actually referred to as a mixed media embroidery piece as it is hard to see, but there are metal bits and bobs, fabric, crochet, etc.

This is a book I am reading - sort of an expose on the religion of Scientology. Not one to convert but to expose their secrets.. I just started but it's very interesting.. I find the study of different religions and belief systems fascinating:

It's almost 1 am and it's time to close up shop and go to bed... it's been fun getting back into the blogger swing of things and I hope to continue it and start visiting friend's blogs again.. until next time.. much love and God bless.

HERE I am!!!

2011-09-14T21:58:00.000-07:00

Well first let me say It's been a good break from blogging.. I actually did try blogging on wordpress again, but once more found out I just don't like the way their system works behind the scenes.. So I decided to return to my old haunt :-) Just so I don't have to RETYPE what I typed before.. here's the one post I did on wordpress..

I want to share just a couple creative things.. Here's a zentangle C ATC I made to angel for a swapbot swap..

I really enjoy angelling swaps.. I get to create something and bring a smile to the face of someone who has been disappointed. That's a win-win if you ask me.. I have angeled and been angeled before. I really try to pay it forward whenever the opportunity presents itself. I love doing random PIF type things in real life too. Example - I printed more than one 40% coupon before I headed to my most recent trip to Hobby Lobby and passed a coupon to a couple behind me.. and I like to think they will pay it forward as well.. In a world where everything is so " me me me" - it's refreshing to do something nice for someone else for no reason at all.. and having been the recipient of such kindness myself - it's just as refreshing to receive it.

I finally finished a belated bday gift for my dad.. he loves the things I make.. he (like my mother) would rather have something I made than something I bought. So I put this mini wall hanging together for him .. the skull and wing pattern is by Bad Bird - but I added the crown and "Dad".. I am quite pleased with how it turned out:

He love skulls.. so I also made him a card with the same type theme:

I really enjoy making these skull zentangles.. reminds me of the Mexican Sugar Skulls..

I was also informed of a great tutorial to make zipper bracelets.. so I was coerced into making a few and I am currently waiting on a shipment of zippers to make some more.. they really are quick, easy, stylish and fun:

I have such a fondness for all things Kawaii.. I am dying for a kawaii tshirt presently.. but I have made some kawaii style ATCs and Altered Rolodex cards lately.. here's some I worked on the last few days:

I am currently contemplating a kawaii painting so stay tuned!!!!

I am going to close with this .. I have more I could say, but it's been a LONG day... filled with cleaning, cooking, and football practice in 107 degree heat. I am going to retire for the night and start all over in the morning :-) Gnight!!

Won't be blogging for a while..

2011-03-08T09:01:00.000-08:00

Why you ask?? Frankly b/c I don't wanna.. yep - I don't wanna! It's been torture making myself do the last few entries..and all it's really been is pictures.. which is what you can see by going to my flickr stream found here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mommasgoodies/

I have had comments suggesting that I do more frequent posts, to make the amount I have to post less each time.. but it's not the amount.. just the blogging in general.. I don't have any desire to post or even to chat - I just want to create. I am lucky to get my items in my flickr stream. So I won't bore you with a picture show that you already have the link above to see for yourself.

I also joined deviant art. I find my artwork well received there and there are lots of groups and contests to join - which I thoroughly enjoy. I just can't keep trying to post pics of my stuff in 50 different locations, and being miserable to boot. Here's my deviant page if you want to take a look: http://cajunhillbilly.deviantart.com/

So all that said- my blog isn't going anywhere, but there won't be new additions for a while.. I am still here and if and when the desire to blog comes back I will return. In the meantime if you want to get in touch with me - email me at cshortprudhomme@yahoo.com OR check me out at the links above. I appreciate your comments and love you have shown me - it has not gone unnoticed :-)

Until next time, Much love and God bless!!

Mixing things up!!

2011-02-26T16:31:00.000-08:00

Being mommy has been rough this week!! I had one come down with that terrible stomach bug - couldn't keep anything down, and just about the time he was fully recovered - my other two started.. ei yi yi!! I was ready pull my hair out from stress and run down the street screaming I was so tired.. I was in full mommy radar mode so every little noise had me jumping up whether I was asleep in bed, or sitting in the recliner.. I even spent one night in the recliner watching over the first sick one. Needless to say, little got done other than taking care of the little ones. I am happy to say the last two to get sick are on the mend and ready to go back to their regular diet and activities tomorrow. I am keeping them on bland foods for one more day.

Here are some things I have worked on since my last post. I was told I should blog more often - I am going to TRY.. I was mixing things up this week with a variety of projects. Here are the crochet things I have worked on:

This is a crochet mandala for a swap. I tried not to think too much about the colors - just grabbed it out of my stash. Ironically, the recipient (who I don't know personally) told me it perfectly matched her living room decor! I can't wait to make more of these:

This is a pocket monster I made for a private flickr swap - this is for a little boy -

These are motifs for a CAL from the book "Beyond the Square: Crochet Motifs":

I did some jewelry too! I did a bit more than this, but was feeling lazy or in a rush to mail it and I didn't get a pic.. This is a set for a repeat customer :-) I am quite pleased with how it turned out:

I have been drawing again.. It has been hard to drag myself away from crochet, but I feel I must to keep from getting burned out.. So here is a zentangled tile and ATC I did for a Zentangle Shamrock swap I hosted on swapbot:

This is an altered book for a RR.. this is my turn in this great old book.. I have only done one spread, but I am toying with the idea of doing one more in this one - perhaps a different style. Normally I do some altering, but i decided to draw this time - I am quite happy with it - I hope the book owner will be:

Finally this is an ATC for a Mardi Gras ATC swap on Swapbot:

Last but not least - I have finally finished 2 fallen soldier memorials I made for a local family. I am pleased with the results and I am trying to get a sponsor from either the VA or American legion to pay for professional framing. If I don't get the funding I will go ahead and try to do it myself. I would prefer the professional framing, but if I do it, it will still be nice. Here they are:

I just recently joined http://soldiersangels.org and adopted a deployed soldier to send weekly letters and a monthy package to while he is deployed until he returns home. I have already connected with him on facebook and am excited to put together a package for him next week. I plan on having my kids join me and help out. Even the hubs is going to contribute to our letters. Whether or not you agree with war - there are some very brave soldiers that are out countrymen that deserve our support. I recommend that you check out the website and help where you are able. There are lots of different opportunities.

Well that's my update - We will be starting another exciting week with lots to do!! Until next time - Much love and God bless!!

Monthly Update

2011-02-16T20:37:00.000-08:00

I think it's looking like monthly updates for now.. I started trying to figure out why my blogging has slacked off.. and I think I figured it out - and it all boils down to this - Facebook, Swap-bot, Flickr, and now Ravelry. I am more active on those sites lately.. so less frequent posting here.. I mean who wants to post pictures on 5 different sites? I saw my followers on the front page of my blog and I started to feel guilty.. I should at least update once a month.. so that's what I endeavor to do.. keep your fingers crossed!!

We are now done with soccer.. last weekend was our last soccer games.. For those of you who don't know- I coached my twin 5yr old boys' team. It was my first time coaching any sport, and was a trip. Most of my players were 3 or 4 yrs old. Having the attention of my boys was hard enough - try 10 of those little people. It was fun and frustrating all in one. Not only was it most of their first time with a team sport (except my boys), but their first time with any exposure to soccer. My team ended up #1 in their age division, and I was such a proud coach!!! We only lost 1 game. It was an enriching experience that I will probably continue to do as my kids play soccer.. Here's our team picture (and that of my boys):

Jas did well too - she loves soccer. This is her second year playing. Here is Jas with her team and her individual picture (that I took - I didnt have the professional photos yet):

It seems all our spring sports run into each other.. which is another reason why this time of year I don't blog much. We spend nearly every day (while the sports overlap), going to practices or games, and trying to fit in our normal school and home activities. Jas is in basketball and doing pretty well. The coach says she has a good shot - now she needs to work on her plays and ball handling. Here is Jas after her first game - I love her retro looking hightops:

My boys have been begging for cowboy boots - so I finally gave in and got them some - check it out :

Leaving family matters and on to crafty stuff!! I have been doing a boatload of crochet lately.. I feel like I have finally caught on to basic amigurumi and am ready to try more difficult pieces. But I have to be honest with you. With the amount of time involved in making these lovelies - I really don't forsee doing too many swaps with the more difficult ones. My kids have already put in their orders and will be very upset if I don't get done with them soon :-) So here is some crochet work I have done. Some of it is swap stuff, some is CAL (crochet along) stuff, some is just because stuff.. check it out:

Whew!! My hooks were on fiyah!!!

Done a little bit of jewelry this month too:

I have done a wee bit of drawing and altering.. This is a box for a valentine swap package - this originally was a shoe box:

This is for a moleskine exchange. I am NOT a person/figure drawing artist.. but the theme of this moly required it - so I gave it a shot. The theme is "the usual suspects" and obviously fairy tales were on my mind LOL:

I also did some zentangle inchies for an angel package on swapbot:

This is my spread in an altered book round robin. This is my second round. The first round was in my last post:

That's about the sum of things. I am recooperating from soccer season and preparing for our new sports - although thankfully simply as a spectator and not as a coach. I also have to get us ready to go to the tax preparer with our business and personal stuff. I probably could do it myself, but I like having a professional looking things over. I highly recommend it, if you can afford it. It's a proven fact that the professionals get you more money back - especially if you itemize like we do.

We are also edging towards spring/summer and I am trying to get our school "year" wrapped up and look forward to what activities we will do as we lean away from the books and more towards hands on things (which is what we do this time of year). This Spring I hope to get some field trips in before it gets ungodly hot. We have a wealth of museums and parks in our own backyard that I would like for us to explore.

Well that's it for my monthly update. Until next time, much love and God bless!!

What I have been up to.....

2011-01-23T09:51:00.000-08:00

Hope your new well has been fun and prosperous! It's been crazy busy here, but blessed just the same.. I have been engulfed in soccer and homeschooling.. and haven't got near as much crafting done as I would have liked. With the cold weather I get that yearning to crochet and loom knit.. and we all know those projects are time consuming - and for me - a lot of trial and error.. the errors going in the trash or given to the kids to play with.. I do have a little to show since my last posting.. so let's see what I have got to show:

Here is my spread in a book for a Round Robin I am in.. this, of course, is someone else's book.. it was a quite large (at least 11"x14") art book.. it has some really great images in it already.. so here is what I did with it:

This is a custom request I made for a lady that swapped an amazing amount of stamps and punches for it and the necklace I am waiting on supplies to make:

Here are the results of my crocheting escapades.. lol:

This is a purse that I envisioned entirely different.. but here it is in all it's glory or lack there of:

This is my replica of the pattern: On the Fly Doily by Pammie Sue. I did this with some varigated yarn that was so gracious given to me by one of my crafty friends:

Here it is on display as a centerpiece on my kitchen table:

These are some squares I did for the month of January in the 2011 CAL on Ravelry:

This is a dishcloth I did for a swapbot swap (pattern on Ravelry is called "nubby dishcloth") - the theme was Red.. This was an easy pattern and I made up my own edging for it:

This is a cute little piggy I made from Annie Potter's Baby YoYo animals:

This is a purse that I made for a swap with another crafter who has a couple kiddos:

A 12" Granny square I made to benefit those victims of the floods in Australia:

The first square for the blanket that I will give to the new baby my BIL and SIL are expecting:

I've done a little drawing lately.. I finished this picture for my dad.. well I say it is finished, but I don't think it is finished.. not quite yet.. I feel it needs a bit more.. Im just taking a break from it to make sure:

So there you go - all caught up on what I am working on :-)

I just got this book:

I am enjoying reading thru it and picking out things to make - it's some really adorable stuff.. I am modifing a buttered toast scarf to make a toast with a face I will show on my next blog post.. I also just got this book for a CAL (crochet along):

As you can see.. I'm in full yarny mode :-)

Today is Sunday.. I am beat.. and I'm not the only one.. My kids spent the day on the soccer field.. the afternoon playing on the playground and came home to crash like this:

I imagine I looked a little like that last night LOL.. As for today - I plan this blog post to be the only thing resembling work that I do today.. now if you will excuse me - me and my pooch have a date with the recliner.. a very LONG date :-) Until next time, much love and God bless.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

2011-01-02T10:35:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year!! We did even less than last year! My hubs was working, so I rang in the new year crocheting a cupcake and watching "Lockup Raw" (a prison reality series) and honestly I didn't feel like I missed out on a thing not partying the night away.

I have been reflecting as most do on the past year.. the good, the bad, and the ugly.. the year was truly a blessing whether we were up or down and God brought us thru it all.. happy, healthy, and better people for it. I had quite a creative year - lots of things made and new things tried.. some stuck and some didn't.. Here's a slideshow of my completed projects from 2010:

I want to note a few things didn't get photographed because either I was in a rush or didn't feel like getting out the camera, but this is a good snapshot of my creativity for the year..

I also have made 2 things already this year - one of which I rang in the new year making:

A little lopsided, but not a bad first attempt I think :-) I also have been seeing cowl scarf patterns on ravelry and decided to try to make one myself.. I would call it my own, uh, pattern.. but it's merely a bunch treble stitches and then I sewed the ends together:

I made this with some great yarn I scored at Michael's for $1.99 - called "Country Loom" by Loops & Threads. I need to go back and get more!! It's VERY soft and fluffy.

Well, we have soccer practice today as the weather has been continually cancelling the last 3 practices.. Then I predict I will be enjoying some crochet and finding something to watch on tv :-)

Until next time, Much love and God bless!!

End of 2010 Update..

2010-12-14T11:22:00.000-08:00

I have been putting off blogging long enough.. I know some of you worry when I haven't blogged in a while.. never fear - I am just fine!! Tired.. but fine :-) I am coaching a soccer team of 3/4 yr olds twice a week.. and 9-12 yr olds twice a week.. plus everything else I do around here .. so it's been hectic because I rarely have a moment to sit down and write.. So here I am with a moment.. I actually do have other things I NEED to get done in the next couple hours but I def wanted to post a little first..

First of all, I have been creating.. but mostly stuff not worth blogging.. pages for journals swaps I am in.. I have created a few things I forgot to take pictures of because I was in a hurry to get them out.. Here are a few that I DID remember to take pictures of:

An ATC for Blissful ATC swap December:

Deco books for a private swap on swapbot - I laminated these.. they were fun to make:

An ATC for a private swap - this was a custom request for a sugar skull ATC:

ATC's for a hand drawn owl swap on swapbot:

ATC for open themed swap on swapbot:

I made these for a private swap - I swapped these for some friendship books:

I received this in my Nov swap on YOE - lots of reindeer goodness:

This is what I mailed out for the final month of YOE - it was a great year of swapping and Val was a great host:

With the upcoming holiday season, I decided to make a donation.. and not of money.. but of hair - to Locks of Love.. this is the braid they cut off the back of my hair:

There was probably another couple inches that came off the back in order to cut my hair into the style it's in now.. and here's how it looks:

I'm pretty happy with the cut.. it's weird losing all that hair though.. but I am happy to be able to donate it to a wonderful cause.. and besides - it will grow back.. it always does..

My dad was here for a few weeks .. and here are a few pictures of him with us - we really enjoyed his visit:

Being the queen of my home that I am .. my lovely friend Kai made a tiara for me for my bday- and I love it!! Here I am sporting it:

My boys turned 5 this month also .. here's them ready to ride on the scooters my mom got them:

My dad got them this Smart Fit for their tv.. here's a clip of them playing with it.. I love that there are no cartridges or anything - it's all built into the game mat:

They got lots of thoughtful gifts including a great bingo game and water doodle board from their Auntie Kai :-)

Christmas is almost here - can you believe it?? only 11 more days!! Then the new year quickly after that. It's been a blessed year. It's had its up and downs - but I have so many blessings to show for it. I want to take this time to thank my followers, readers, and commenters.. you guys have no idea how much your participation means to me. I truly, truly appreciate it. May you have a very merry Christmas and 100-fold blessed new year!!

Much love and God bless!!

SEE YA NEXT YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!

Quick update..

2010-11-22T23:30:00.000-08:00

I am busy entertaining my dad while he is in for Thanksgiving, so I haven't much time to chit chat, but to show you what I have been creating lately:

I made the following for a friendship swap with my friend Anita... I made them a while ago but I can finally show them bc they are in her possession now ;-)

A jewelry set:

An art journal and mini art journal:

An altered cd ornament:

Here is another altered CD I made from a swapbot swap:

Here are some zentangles I made as gifts for friends and family and swaps:

I did these for a sugar skull ATC swap on ATCs for All:

Last but not least - this is another folk art painting I worked on:

I also thought I would show you the back of my super expensive and very hard to get canvas:

HA!! Yep it's a Stove Top Stuffing box.. I LOVE making canvases by cutting up old cardboard boxes :-)

That's it for now.. we have a holiday on the horizon and I have clothes to fold before I pass out! :-)

Until next time, much love and God bless!!

A little change..

2010-11-12T20:59:00.000-08:00

.. goes a long way!! As you can see my blog has gotten a makeover.. I love that blogger now lets us change the layout without losing all our widgets! That was a such a pain to cut and paste all the codes and what not back and forth..and now we can have tabs without all the fussy html code tweaking.. blogger I think I will stay ;-)

Anyway - here I am again after a brief blogging hiatus.. from the chatting anyway..I am happy to say that I am officially off all depression meds.. and I physically feel pretty good.. Heed my warning - PLEASE, if your doctor suggests you take Effexor - ask for an alternative!! It's one of the hardest depression meds to get off of (because of the withdrawl) and I am glad to be free of it. There are some people that love it - but I am not one of them. I am determined (as I have mentioned before) to go without chemical enhancements.. Now that it is pretty much out of my system, I can begin focusing on getting my exercise and diet back on track. I want to get a regular period of meditation and prayer done at night as well.. I think the way I am going to do this is by making myself a checklist so I don't forget. Please say a prayer for me that I can get on track. I am certain that once I accomplish this that my depression will be under control. Right now I am not especially sad, but more sluggish and dragging butt.

Enough of that.. on to better things.. here's what I made since my last posting:

These are Buddha ornaments for a swapbot swap:

Mixed media tags for swapbot swap:

Zine pages for swapbot swap:

Postcard for friend's roomate:

Graphite only ATC for swapbot swap:

Card that I made as part of an angel package for a little girl that got flaked on a swapbot swap:

Bookmark for swapbot swap:

ATC for swapbot swap:

Rudolph ornament I tangled up:

Mixed Media (and used CD) reindeer ornament for YOE swap:

A reindeer lightbulb ornament also for the YOE swap:

My first moleskine started off before I sent it to the first person in the RR to get my book:

These are both 3.5 square zentangles for a swapbot swap:

ATC for private trade on ATCs for All:

Oogie Boogie Ornament for swabot swap:

Sugar Skull ATC for swap on ATCs for All... I still have 2 more to do:

Paper Bag Glue Book for swapbot swap:

I have a few other projects, but they must be kept under wraps for now :-) Hey Anita - now who can keep a secret?? :-)

Halloween has come and gone since I posted last.. so here's a slideshow of our Halloween pics:

We also went on a field trip to a great safari petting zoo. Here's a slideshow of the pics:

Well I suppose that's about it for now.. It's the normal everyday business going on around here otherwise.. Until next time - much love and God bless!!

More Creative Update

2010-10-23T19:37:00.000-07:00

I am trying to give more frequent updates.. but as you can see - still not so chatty.....perhaps soon....

Zentangled Postcards:

And a zentangled 3.5" square:

A mixed media postcard:

A couple of Mixed Media Paintings I did:

I wanted to explain this first painting.. my paternal grandparents and I used to spend a lot of time together... one of our monthly visits was to bring flowers to their parents graves and that of my dad's sister that passed away in a car accident. My grandpa being a bit of a jokester would ask me if when he passed away would I bring my crying chair and cry over him being gone.. I never forgot that.. and I decided to put it in a painting - something I have been meaning to do for a while.

I did this one after seeing some painting videos by Mystele... I LOVE her style, and she really is a great teacher :-)

I also started a new altered book for a Round Robin that will be starting up soon:

Front Cover

Back Cover:

Inside Cover (sign in page) and yes - my above mixed media painting (that was done on a cardboard box by the way) did end up in this book:

Until Next time, much love and God bless!!

Creative Update

2010-10-19T23:31:00.000-07:00

Here's more of what I have been working on:

Here are a couple ATC's I did for a private swap:

In Honor of Freed Chilean Miners

2010-10-14T13:46:00.000-07:00

A artsy buddy of mine did a chilean miner tribute and I wanted to do the same thing.. so here's my tribute - God bless them all.... He was obviously with them while they were down there:

Where has the time gone??

2010-10-12T18:29:00.000-07:00

Wow it's been a month since I blogged?? I have been hard at work on my artwork.. plus restarting homeschool has been keeping me busy too. I love all my bloggy friends - but I just haven't felt like blogging lately.. I would much rather be creating something.. but I feel the need to let everyone know I am alive and kicking.. and staying busy.. with the kids, the animals, my art, my hubs, my house, our trucking biz (am I forgetting anything?) - Im going 24-7. I'm happy though.. very happy.. and leaving my depression meds behind me :-) Don't worry - I am doing it according to my dr's regimin so I imagine that has something to do with my lack of chattiness :-) So here's a bit of show and tell of what I have done since the last I blogged:

Zentangles in the form of postcards, atc's, chunky pages etc:

Dotee Dolls:

Altered Book Art Journal:

Paper bag art journal for a swap:

My very first Junque Journal:

My very first moleskin Journal for a round robin - this is the sign in page:

Well that's it for now - I have a art journal calling my name.. until next time - Much love and God bless!!

Let me catch you up..

2010-09-14T19:37:00.000-07:00

zentangles.. there you are caught up :-) LOL.. I wish it has been that simple.. LOL rarely is anything in this household simple!!

I have been tangling of course.. I wanted to go a little smaller than the usual (but bigger than an atc) and do a traditional 3.5" square zentangle.. so I did some for swaps.. here they are:

I also did some work on my very first art journal.. I have been staring at that thing in my command center (aka my recliner) for a while how.. it's so pretty .. a hardbound unlined journal in sage green.. and I realized that the permanency of hardbound books was daunting.. I kept thinking .. what if I make a mistake.. it will ruin the whole thing.. and finally I answered myself (yes I can do that from time to time) - so what!!So here's my first page.. I did this totally without my pattern idea book:

I made a few more bookmarks too:

And of course, another postcard for a swap:

And I have recently rejoined ATCards.com.. it always was a wonderful group of swappers.. and their swaps are great because there is a hostess that collects the packages and redistributes them.. that way you don't have to worry about being flaked on. I have been working on some private swaps.. and some group swaps.. right now I am working on my very first chunky pages that aren't ready to be shown yet.. but I do have some atc's I finished.. this was for a private swap:

I made these for a halloween swap.. it was a lot of fun to do:

And as if ATC's weren't small enough .. I just had to see if I could tangle some inchies.. I even added some color:

If you are coming from a place of crafty burnout .. especially when that burnout is part of pressure to sell artwork.. try finding something to do that is purely for the pleasure of creation.. I'm not going to sell my inchies or my ATC's.. I make them for the fun of it and trade them with others who do the same.. I collect the ones I get to enjoy later.. It really is liberating for me .. I feel as if a weight is off my shoulders and my creativity is free to soar.. and soar it does.. and I imagine that is why I have so much to show lately.. Will I sell what I make at a later time - I don't know. I probably would if it were purely on my terms, but not now. I am having way to much fun with what I am doing. I already have a million different full time jobs around my house - right now I don't have time for a crafty BUSINESS.

I decided to try something else I never tried.. and do something I have done before.. the something I never tried was "matchboxes" OMG!! They are such fun to make.. and then see how many goodies you can safely stuff inside!! Check out this one I made for an autumn themed swap.. it was so much fun I signed up for a few more.. I even have the matchboxes done for them.. I just have to wait for my partner to be assigned so I can figure out what to stuff in them LOL.. Here's my autumn one with a pic so you can see how much I stuffed inside:

I saw this great crafter on flickr who's dotees I admired... traditionally I haven't cared much for dotees.. until I saw hers!! They had that certain something that just makes you want one!! So we are doing a private swap for cupcake dotees.. so here's the one I made for her:

I have a great new penpal that's so sweet and chatty and crafty.. and I decided to make her some cute pencil/pen toppers since she likes all the cutesy papers and whatnot.. so here is the fall themed toppers I made her:

I also have a former coworker that is getting married in October.. so I offered to make her bridal jewelry.. and so she asked for a pair of earrings and showed me a design that she liked..this is my interpretation of those earrings:

I also want to wish a very happy belated birthday to someone very special to me.. and I feel especially bad about it because she is so kind to every member of my family - my husband, kids, and me especially.. she doesn't miss a holiday.. and I can't even remember her birthday on the day of... so here's wishing you Kai, my comanche momma - The happiest of birthdays and a blessed year to come!! WE love you!! xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

And with that I must bid you ado.. I have just learned today (at our first 4H meeting) that Jasmine will be showing our two goats at the livestock show of our parish fair..so today we had to wash and scrub them (not an easy job) in addition to flea dipping our dogs.. and tomorrow we have to trim hooves.. another not so fun or easy job.. and a gazillion other things.. and a girl has to find time to create!!

So until next time - much love and God bless!!

How time flies!!

2010-09-07T16:45:00.000-07:00

Is it september already?? I can hardly believe it!! We are trying to get back into the swing of school (still, yes.. I know)... our way of schooling is relaxed so we don't spend 10 hrs a day doing paperwork.. I make sure my kids read (or listen to me read), do some math.. do some writing..do some history.. and read some more.. and I try to get them to do something creative - either outside building their forts or doing a diorama based on a book read.. Really the person needing to get into the swing is me - my sleeping patterns are returning to normal (thank the Lord).. AND I have been on a tangling spree! Come see..

Here are some more bookmarks I made:

And here are some postcards:

And some ATC's.. yep I said ATC's.. looks like I joined the ATC world again :-)

And lastly another large (9"x11") project.. I am really pleased with how it turned out:

I also wanted to try out this thing called a zendala - it's like a mandala but it's zentangled.. I call this "Grandmother's Garden":

Jas got into the tangling mood and did this.. I like it - it reminds me of a stained glass window:

I also did some stitching for some swaps:

This one was a free pattern by Gina Mattarazzo -I think it's too cute. I added the word underneath the birdie:

This one is my own freeform embroidery of cherry blossoms:

I got some great swap packages too. Lookie at what I got:

The boys have been doing a good job helping daddy in the yard.. he's finally got some assistance.. he said they actually did a good job helping and earned themselves an ice cream - check it out:

Well that's about it for now .. I have a few penpal letters to write and I want to draw in my art journal too :-)

Until next time, Much love and God bless!!

Tangle tango!!

2010-08-25T11:11:00.000-07:00

Yes more zentangles!! I can't get them out of my head and they keep me up at night. I am still working on that big one.. here is another in progress pic:

I think I am almost done with it before I start working on the shading.. my Faber Castle "Shades of Grey" markers are supposed to be here tomorrow - so hopefully I will have them to finish off the shading with :-)

I have also done some zentangle postcards for a swap on swapbot. I was VERY pleased with them - hope my partners will be. I did them on 140 coldpress watercolor paper:

I had some scraps of that fancy paper left - so I made these bookmarks:

Here is a swap package I got in a gnome swap from craftster.. I have already hung my awesome birdhouses:

I also got these postcards in from a great online website.. I got all these (each box has 30-40 cards) for $20 and free shipping. I had ordered them because I wanted to build our trading stash. But I loved them all and don't know how I will part with them. Only a couple have duplicates!! For now I will happily have them in my stash:

I have joined some penpal sites and have letters to write in addition to a million other things that need to be done around here.. until next time ..

Much love and God bless!!

Oodles of Doodles

2010-08-22T21:59:00.000-07:00

I am utterly consumed with my zen doodles.. I briefly tried them out several years ago when I was delving back into my crafts and doing ATC's back then I think. But this time I am concentrating on learning shading and making these not just doodles, but 3d doodles. I have never been much of a drawing artist, but I love to try. These doodles are so relaxing to do. I can sit and watch tv and doodle away. It isn't a precise craft, and there is no right or wrong (for the most part)... I can make them into other things.. like postcards or bookmarks.. or even frame them if I want. It's purely an art for art's sake, not to make money off of (eventhough I guess you could), just to enjoy the self expression. I showed you a postcard I was working on last time.. here it is finished and already in the hands of it's new owner:

I decided I wanted to make something a bit bigger. So I am working on a large one on a page in a sketch journal that I have had forever..it's nothing fancy - just the run of the mill spiral bound type, but I have ordered a nice one (along with a few more specialty markers) from Dick Blick - which has great prices by the way.. So here it is in progress.. I am not quite done, but very pleased with how it is coming along:

I know it's weird.. kinda abstract.. kinda surrealist.. but I have always love surrealists like the most famous of all - Salvador Dali. When I am done with this one, I plan on framing it.

You know I always have to pack a traveling tote for whatever craft I am working on.. so here is my traveling drawing bag:

Look what came in the mail to feed my embroidery obsession:

For post crossing I joined a Round Robin where we send regular postcards with things drawn where you would normally write a message.. here's the backs of my postcards I sent out:

I also finally finished that mushroom embroidery/crewel project I was working on.. I turned it into a mini wall hanging. I am quite happy with it and I hope my partner is too. It has a hanging pocket on the back:

Here is a close up of my embroidery:

I also got my first big swap package from Craftster for the Tim Burton Swap.. I showed you what I made a while back... here is what my partner sent me.. I LOVE it.. Oogie Boogie was my favorite as you can see is reflected in what she made for me. I adore getting things in mediums I don't work in:

I also got a wonderfully delightful package from Sandy in the Year of Enchantment swap!! Look at all the lovlies and yummies :-) :

I forgot to share some dentist pictures with you from last week too.. I took all the kids for their 6 mo checkup.. and all fared well.. everything looks good and if it continues they won't have to have any pricey orthadontal work:

Well it's getting late and I want to head to bed with one of these:

The hubs:

And my new drawing travel kit:

Until next time, Much love and God bless!!

Note to self - you are seriously OCD.. seek some help!!

2010-08-17T11:48:00.000-07:00

Yeah yeah yeah.. I know.. I only have so many hours in a day.. well I will just have to make the most of them.. we are busy with school, and trucking business, and TRYING to get this Pampered Chef thing going, but I have some more stuff for us to do :-) Not to mention the crazy amount of swaps I sign myself up for. It's just lucky for me - that I am an EXPERT multitasker :-)

As a part of homeschool curriculum I have joined us up at Post Crossing. Basically it works like this - you send out postcard to who the system randomly to another Post Crossing member anywhere in the world, and when it's received your name is given to another random member to send a postcard to you. At certain increments you even seem to get more than you send out.. I haven't totally figured that part out yet. But for 98 cents in postage (plus the cost of the postcard - 25 cents at my local truckstop) you can send a postcard anywhere in the world. Plus I made some to send out on this first round. As a newbie you can only send out 5 at a time.. so here are my first 5 (notice the zentangle one in the lower left corner):

Here is another zentangle one I am working on to send off to Cali in a day or two when its finished:

I got some new markers the other day - as my pigma micron pens have disappeared or died on me. That fabercastle pin was almost $4 all by itself, so I thought I would try it out before I invested a lot of money in them:

Here is a gnome card I made for a swap. I am by far a novice at cards, but it was fun to do. The mushrooms and gnome are on double stick tape that lifts them above the surface to sort of "stand out" from the background:

Take a gander at these awesome fabric postcards I got in swaps on swapbot:

I also got these great chunky houses on craftster(first pic is front, second is back):

I also received some wonderful gnomes in a gnome swap on swapbot..lookie at what I got!! And try not to be TOO jealous :-) My partner heatherface was a MOST generous and thoughtful swapper!! Thanks Heather!!

Speaking of generous - Miss Pam and her sweet mom sent me a great box of yarn. I am wanting to teach Jas to use my knitting looms and crochet to make hats and scarves, and I want to make granny square blankets for the nursing home and veteran's home. Check out the stash:

In order to make room for the yarn (and just to destash and bless someone else) - look at all the stash I got rid of (it filled up the back of my explorer):

I was also tired of looking at my boys train wreck of a room.. so we did a little "destashng" in there too..look how clean!! I took 5 - yes FIVE lawn garbage bags full of junk, trash, toys, and outgrown clothes out of this room!! You can also see their artwork on the walls.. I am hoping to paint all their walls with chalkboard paint eventually.. and take up the carpet they have destroyed and put down linoleum.

Speaking of cleaning.. the kids went to the dentist and I am sharing the adventure HERE LOL Check them out!!! The boys didn't cry a bit!! They love this pediatric dentist - there are trains everywhere!! he even has video games for them to play while they wait..

I actually have completed several swaps on swapbot, but for whatever reason I forgot to take pics.. but TRUST.. I have been creating..

I do have a couple WIPs to share.. both of them are crewel embroidery projects:

This is one from a vintage kit:

This one is from a free pattern by Aimee Ray of "Doodle Stitching". With this one I am using crewel wool instead of embroidery thread:

In the midst of typing this post - I swap package in the mail!! So why not share it now :-) I joined Little Messy Missy's bookmark swap.. look at all the wonderful bookmarks I got.. all so different and PRETTY!!

Well, that's about it for today.. I have school to finish up with the kids, penpal letters to write, dinner to prepare, swaps to work on, and the list goes on..

So until next time, much love and God bless!!

Swaps.. swaps.. did I mention swaps??

2010-08-05T19:17:00.000-07:00

Yes I have gone swap OCD.. I may have mentioned it before.. but it's not gotten any better LOL.. In my own defense most of them are low cost - like fabric postcards or needle books.. but there are a couple more labor intensive like - aprons..but I am enjoying myself and I am steadily creating :-) So here's what I made since last I blogged:

I made this for a swap on swapbot - it's a portable sewing kit made from a hard eyeglass case. My case was just plain black with the embossed design. I glued on all the little gems on the cover:

This is the inside. I stitched and then glued in the scissor pocket.. I made the scissor fob and the 2 pincushions - the removable bottle cap cushion and the long narrow cushion with the pins and needles. I also included 8 mini spools of thread and needle threader. I put a few bandaids in after I took the picture:

Here is a better view of the scissors with the scissor fob I made:

That case could easily be turned into an embroidery case :-) Just take out the spools and add your embroidery thread :-)

I also made some gnomes for some swaps.. these aren't all for the same swap.. but they were hanging out together before they were packaged to leave :-) The big guy in the middle is made from a pattern by Aimee Ray the genius of "Doodle Stitching". He was fun to make. I did a lot more embroidery than the pattern called for but I did follow directions for the most part :-)

The other bearded fellows were made from clothespin dolls that my friend Meari gave me :-) I didn't use a pattern for their clothes - I just kinda looked and cut and then stitched :-) They are quick and easy and I see myself make more of them :-) They are a perfect scrap craft!

Speaking of scraps.. I love doing mosaics... I showed you a bunch in the last post.. but I had something a little different in mind. I had a fabric postcard to make.. and when I took one look at my felt scrap bucket.. I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to try!! so this is what I came up with.. all the pieces are stitched on by hand.. and then I chain stitched the "grout".. I can TOTALLY see a wall hanging or pillow made with this method.. I love it!! You could even use regular fabric if you wanted:

Oh speaking of swaps.. I joined this woodland apron swap.. so naturally I had get some fabric.. Im seriously impressed with the supplies you can find on etsy.. I LOVE supporting small business and getting a great deal.. and when I do the research - etsy always saves me money.. next time you are looking for craft supplies - include etsy in your search. Anyway - this is the fabric I got for the apron. I know I will have plenty of leftovers for other woodland goodies :-)

I still got tons of XS patterns to destash.. anyone want them?? No strings attached :-) Email if you are: cshortprudhomme@yahoo.com

Until next time, much love and God bless!!

long time no post!!

2010-07-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

It's been a flurry of reasons why I haven't blogged in a bit.. holidays.. my stepdaughter in for a visit.. all kinds of craziness going on in our trucking biz.. trying to start up a Pampered Chef business.. and me joining a gazillion swaps..lol.. so never fear - I have been creating.. and here is a snapshot of what I have been doing:

My friend Val has ~~enabled~~ instructed me on how to do mosaics.. I really admired her work and she gave me all the details.. I have shared my first project in progress with you already.. so let me share the completed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.. and my 4th in progress:

I have also finished that freeform embroidery project that I showed you in progress last time.. I teamed it with some batik fabric for a cute little tote (that I am keeping for myself for a change lol):

And in that same vein I created a swapbot swap for a freeform fabric postcard.. and here is mine completed.. it was done on a scrap of upholstery fabric. I recommend all my readers try the freeform embroidery - it's like doodling with thread :-) :

And because this whole free form thing is really appealing to me.. I tried my own freehand design and added some "texture" to the piece with surface embroidery.. I decided to keep this for myself too!:

For the Year of Enchantment swap - last month's theme was snails.. so here was what I sent to my partner:

This is an ornament made from a Sublime Stitching pattern

an origami bag made from some adorable bug fabric I got from Hobby Lobby:

And some jewelry that was loosely themed on snails and shells:

This is the great snaily stuff I got from my partner:

I started doing more swapping on craftster too.. yeah I know OCD.. don't remind me LOL.. this is what I made for a Tim Burton Themed swap:

And this is what I made for a toast themed swap:

This is "ninja toast" - it may look like an innocent slice of burnt toast - when really it's a toasty ninja in disguise!!

This is a toast charm bracelet I made with a variety of types of bread charms:

And this is a little wall decor I did freehand (freeform) on a piece of upholstery scrap.. I am totally thrilled with this one and almost kept it for myself:

To finish out the swap theme I made some chunky houses - not my usual medium, but I wanted to try something new.. something different.. and something that there was no pressure to make to sell.. it was fun and I am happy with how they turned out.. hope my partners are too:

Fronts:

Backs:

I did angel a package for the Hot Mama apron swap.. it really burns my butt when people receive their swap package and then flake on their partner.. I personally know how excited you get thinking what you might get in return only to get nothing.. you put thought and love into every stitch and your partner doesn't even bother to return the sentiment.. off with their heads I say!! Oh well maybe that is a bit harsh, but you get the point :-) Here's the angel package I put together:

I decided to make a couple friends some jewelry sets just because.... and here they are.. which reminds me I need to mail them off!!:

I also made some "convertible earrings" where you have one set of earring wires and three different choices of dangles to wear with them:

Have you ever heard of Teesha Moore ?? If you haven't you must click on her name and check out her blog.. she is amazing and genius and sweet all in one!! Oh don't let me forget an amazingly talented artist!!! I did a fabric journal based on her tutorials for Jas for her bday.. and I finally got around to making one for myself. I must warn you - these are very addictive!! Ok - you were warned :-)

Front:

Back:

Now I just need to add the pages to the inside!

I decided to reorganize my embroidery thread by colors and put them in a new storage system (as I am prone to do from time to time).. I like it and it's much easier to find what I want. I didn't find it necessary to organize by number since it's not likely that I will be doing cross stitch anytime soon. I have come to enjoy the freedom of freeform, and tinted linens and whatnot that I really dread that restrictive "follow the pattern" of cross stitch. So here's my new storage:

On that note.. I have tons and tons of patterns, Lizzie Kate.. Prairie Schooler.. and lots lots more.. I would love to trade for other supplies if anyone is interested - please email me at cshortprudhomme@yahoo.com and lets see if we can work out a deal!!

I have updated my flickr page if you want to check it out. I have been having a hard time keeping it updated b/c I sent my pics to facebook and forget to send them to flickr too. But I think it's up to date now - including all the pics included in this post.

Welp, that's what my July looked like.. we are heading into August and I have lots of projects on my mind as usual :-) I will try to update my blog before another month passes again.. but no promises.. our life is hectic and crazy and busy.. and BLESSED.. but with blessings comes work.. you know how it can be.

Until next time - MUCH LOVE and God bless!!

(my handsome hardworking hubby and my boys)

Just cuz I can...

2010-07-02T21:41:00.000-07:00

...doesn't mean I WILL.. as many of you may know I go thru medium "periods".. some of you know me from my doll making period.. some of you know me from my cross stitch period.. some of you know me from my crazy quilting period.. etc.. I'm always seeing a challenge to conquer in the arts and crafts world.. and once I conquer it - then I return my standbys of embroidery, jewelry, and a sewing.. Well I have been doing some crochet for a while now.. and I really enjoy it.. I have made purses, jewelry, coasters, etc out of crocheted yarn.. but I would see these doilies and I just had to see if I could make one..so here's my first (and probably last) one:

Please keep in mind that it hasn't been "blocked" yet.. and may not ever be.. lol.. working with that thread and teeny tiny steel crochet hook is just not my bag.. I can do it, but it's fidgety and hard to hold on to and was NOT an enjoyable experience.. I will continue to crochet - just nothing with such fine thread!! Crochet is still one of my go-to projects after conquering something else.. but I believe I will toss this size 10 thread out the window for the birdies!!

Speaking of conquering.. I have been so admiring Val's mosaic pieces she makes for her garden.. I chatted her up when I met with her for lunch.. and have been daydreaming about it ever since.. and decided to take the plunge!! So I went shopping at a few second hand stores looking for colorful dishes. I stuck with just a few colors because I don't want a room full of supplies if I decide I dont like it. In fact if I dont like it - I will prob give Val all my mosaic stuff LOL Here's my new supplies (who doesn't LOVE to shop for new art supplies?):

Breaking up the dishes was a ton of fun.. so I have some glass, red, black, and yellow pieces.. I decided to do a mosaic on an old plate I had - so if it doesn't turn out right it's not a big loss.. here it is ready to be grouted:

If you can't tell - that's a heart in the center.. it was fun to just sit and glue pieces on while I watched tv.. and actually my fingers are a little sore.. not from being poked but from handing the rough pieces of dishes.. the grit and all rubbing on my fingers.. I haven't grouted it yet, I plan on tackling that this weekend.. wish me luck!!

On a crafty note - and another "conquer this" department.. I have been seeing these awesome freeform embroidery pieces by Jacque Davis on flickr.. she's got some great patterns and her work is amazing!! So I decided to start one on some fabric that I had originally bought for cross stitch from Joan Pavlick. She does some awesome dyed fabric, and I thought it was a perfect backdrop for some freeform embroidery. So here is just a start to my first freeform project:

I also found out my partner in the birdy swap got her package so now I can show you what I made her (everything was made by me except the package of notecards in the upper left hand corner):

On another note - I have gotten the flower/plant bug.. it started with a couple cheap annuals the boys got from VBS a few weeks ago.. I started getting all kinds of unused planters and decor from my mom.. and this is just the beginning.. it's not much, but it's a good start for a novice like me :-) I tried getting some pretty and unusual plants.. and I am so pleased with how it looks so far.. come see!

Let me take this time to wish you all a happy July 4th. My mom is coming for the weekend and I imagine we will be doing some mosaic work.. and just hanging out. I might even grill a little something on Sunday.. who knows!! Until next time, much love and God bless!!

Swaps come rolling in!!

2010-06-29T21:08:00.000-07:00

I am so excited that my swap packages rolled in today!! I got two of them :-) First for the Morning Glories and Moonflowers 2nd Annual Bird Swap.. I got a delightful package!! Look at all the goodies!!

Its all wonderful and shabby chic!! She included what looks to be some vintage yo-yos that I can't wait to make a garland out of :-)

I also got my apron package for the Hot Mama Vintage Pinup apron swap.. another package of awesomeness:

The apron has gathers and poofs out like the 50's style dresses.. I soooo wish I had one... I would TOTALLY wear it to throw a dinner party :-)

I am working on a couple little "garden" areas around my house/carport. I got a ton of flower pots and stands from my mom.. now I need flowers to go with it.. and I want some wind chimes too.. I love the recycled ones.. so I decided to make one for myself.. I Love how it turned out - and I plan to do more:

It's after 11pm and now my exercise and dog walking is done for the day.. IM going to shower and hit the sack b/c I have a long day tomorrow.. BUT some time to myself :-)

Until next time, much love and God bless!!

Happy Sunday erryones erryones!!

2010-06-27T14:41:00.000-07:00

It's a lovely lazy Sunday here in Kinder, LA.. it was scorching hot until the clouds rolled in.. my kids are happily playing outside.. eating popsicles.. hanging out at their "hollow tree" and getting the dog some exercise.. and I am happily inside enjoying the peace and quiet :-) I just finished up the last swap package I signed up to do (prob won't do anymore for a while unless someone twists my arm :-) ).. I can't show the goods bc the recipient probably will be checking my blog.. so perhaps in my next post.. but lets just say there is lots of birdy goodness in the package!!

I have been working on more jewelry.. just kind of letting my muse pick what to do next.. I'm still stuck in the jewelry and loving it.. in fact I got an order already after just showing off some earrings on my facebook wall.. It's very flattering when someone solicits me for my goods :-) Here's a sampling of what I have been working on:

This is a Howlite Gemstone (dyed to look like turquoise) and Gold set

This is a Lemon Shell and Chocolate Faceted Glass set on a hemp and ribbon necklace

These are some green Nephrite gemstone shamrocks wrapped with 12K gold wire to be used as necklace charms - per my dad's request

My hubs has two very sweet ladies that he works with - and I periodically make things for him to give them from me.. so I decided to make them some earrings..

These are mop lentil bead and crystal earrings

These are freshwater pearl and crystal earrings

I made these just because I saw the instructions for them in a jewelry mag

This was an experiment in wirewrapping with various metals.. It's kinda big - but I like it

I was playing with wire and a mandrel tool and came up with this

And lastly (with earrings) - I made these which were purchased the moment I put them on facebook and the buyer also wants a necklace to match

I was really in the mood to do some wire wrapping.. and wanting to play with freshwater pearls.. and this is what I came up with

Believe it or not - I have done other non-jewelry related stuff, but those were the aboved mentioned swap items I cannot show.

We attended another arena football game last night and a good time was had by all.. it was the last game of the season - not without excitement.. for a moment I thought I was at a hockey game with fights breaking out on the field.. and some spectators almost coming to blows (yes with children all around them!!).. whatever happened to family fun?? I mean seriously.. it's ARENA FOOTBALL!!! It's like those ppl had stock in the teams or something. The fans of the opposing team was there because it was a town only an hour away.. so I guess it was a bit of a rivalry.. not to mention, there was a group of kids in their late teens or early 20's who were cursing up a storm and my husband had to turn around and ask them to stop.. instead of stopping - they moved.. all that said - the kids were oblivious and had fun.. we left a couple minutes before the game was over so that if a fight did break out the kids and our lives wouldn't be at risk. Here's some pics and a video to show the kids enjoying themselves:

Here's Jay showing off a dance move

I had to show this pic I took of the hubs - he always gets that serious face when I try to take a pic lol

Well that's it for now.. it's a lazy Sunday so this is the most "work" I will do.. I'm going to put my feet up and find something good on tv and figure out what project to play with next :-)

Until next time, much love and God bless!!

Jewelry anyone??

2010-06-20T23:19:00.000-07:00

My mom tells me that I come from a long line of hardheaded strong women.. independent.. willfull.. and wanting to do things there own way.. so it stands to reason when it is expected that I make jewelry (like to build up inventory for shows) that the last thing I desire to do is jewelry. And after a flurry of shows last year - I took a very long break from jewelry. I often got questions from friends and family wondering if I was going to make more, and my MIL even had ppl wanting me to make them jewelry at a local bank.. but I just couldn't do it.. other than an occasional piece here or there for close family or friends. Until recently.. people quit asking me about jewelry - and the desire returned for me to make it. So here's some items now in my etsy shop :

I also made this crochet bracelet for a friend who loves halloween - and who coincidentally gave me the yarn :-)

And to continue with the jewelry theme - these are pieces made for swaps:

I also had the distinct pleasure of meeting the hostess with the mostess - Miss Val I met her online when I signed up for the Year of Enchantment swap she is hosting.. and the rest is history.. I have lots of online friends (who are just as special as my real life friends), but due to distance I don't usually get to meet them in person. She happens to live very close to my mom - so when we were partnered up in the YOE swap I thought it would be awesome to meet in person to swap our goodies!! It was great great fun!!

She brought her kiddos, and I brought mine (and my mom).. we chatted, and had lunch, and shared our goodies.. and planned on getting together again soon ;-) Here are the items I sent her (luckily Miss Val took a pic b/c I was being lazy and then forgot to take some):

And here are the awesome goodies she sent me!! I was so blessed by all the thought and care she put into the package :-) And now I have a new real life buddy :-)

On to homeschool.. it's going well - but keeping us busy.. I am terribly backed up on email and hope to get caught up soon.. I have been reorganizing since I got my new couches:

So we have room for the books and activities.. here it is all reorganized and sectioned off:

As always I have been doing lots of cooking - here is a beautiful homemade chicken pot pie that I made for dinner last week - it's a family favorite:

I got it from Kraft Foods website.. here's the recipe link . I usually double the recipe up and make two pies.. although really- if you doubled up the recipe you could make three pies out of it.

Another reason for being so busy - the kids spent the last two weeks at Vacation Bible school at two different local churches.. they had a wonderful time, and I am so glad that I decided to take them.. in this pic they are wearing hats for crazy hat day at bible school - they were so excited:

They have also been going to our local library's summer reading program each week for special presentations - last week was a juggler.. here they ware waiting for the juggler to come out:

There are so many free, educational, and fun community activities during the summer - I encourage you to keep your eyes open at your local stores for flyers and check the local newspaper.. you (and your kids) will be glad you did :-)

I hope everyone had a wonderful father's day.. I know I did.. and reflected today on all the dads in my life - my own dad, my FIL, my BIL is now a dad, my Uncle Ronnie, and all my friends that are dads.. such wonderful men dedicated to caring for and providing for their families.. loving us and watching over us.. being there when we need them.. thank you and I love you.

And now I am signing off.. Im on this horrible night owl schedule that is truly wearing me out.. I need to go to bed and get some sleep bc yet another week (thank you Lord!) is starting over again.. and I need to be ready!! Until next time, much love and God bless!!

WHAT, NO INTERNET???????? &%$@#$*&!

2010-06-08T22:03:00.000-07:00

YEP, that was me for the last few days. You don't realize how much you rely on internet until you don't have it!! I had been planning to blog for a while, but an internet outage that lasted for several days kept me from doing any business or fun on the net. I could use my iphone, but without my wifi connection (since there is no 3G out here in the country) - it was like using dial up.. YUCK!! So I kept it to the bare minimum of email and a little facebooking. I was so happy when it came back on today.. And now to get you caught up.. if there is anyone else left reading this after my long absence. :-)

First off - we are back to homeschool. We took a couple month break at the height of sports goings on.. piano recitals.. family visits etc.. and now that it's too hot (and too many mosquitos) to do much playing outside - we are starting the next school year. That is PreK (officially) for my boys and 5th Grade for Jas. Like my friend Mandy of Mandymom.com we do a mixture of types of "school".. a little more structure than unschooling.. a lot less paperwork than say ABEKA.. and I use a mixture of curriculums. My boys are starting "Your Baby Can Read" that we saw on t.v. We just started the first month of videos, books, and cards. With Jas, I focus more on living books than text books.. although we do use some workbooks for phonics/wordstudy and math. I have her do some journaling and copywork when I feel her handwriting is lacking. This year I plan on incorporating a "hands on" day on Fridays. That means art projects, science experiments, exploration, and fun. I want to make school fun and also give them something fun to relate to that week's topics. Here is my boys work Monday on their names - they LOVE working on the chalkboard!

I have set out to finish up a list of things I have promised to friends.. Its too long to mention, but I am nearly done with this purse and can't wait to sent it to the recipient. The widow of a classmate of mine expressed interest in a purse I made and asked for one in purple in black.. so here it is nearly done.. not pictured is the strap that I put on but haven't taken a picture of yet... now it's just waiting on a flap closure:

I have been doing some stitching too.. here's one I have completed the stitching on but haven't decided what to make out of it yet:

And this is a fallen soldier memorial that I am nearly done with (except for the lettering)

After I get this one done (it's farther along than when I took this pic) I am going to take the two that I did (for the same local family) and see if our town will sponsor them getting professionally matted and framed..if they won't them I will turn to the American Legion next. I don't really anticipate this being difficult to get done. Our local fallen hero deserves as much.

In other stitchy news - I made this Strawberry Shortcake stitchery picture for my stepmom.. I used a coloring page and turned it into a pattern on my new handy dandy lightbox :-)

I almost forgot this cute purse I made for this adorable little girl I know.. she loves peace symbols.. I found this free pattern online and stitched it up:

I made this for her to go with her purse:

I also just mailed (and my partner got) a package for a pinup apron and extra goody swap. I loved the pinup fabric so much that I made sure I had enough for myself too :-) The apron Here is the apron and matching necklace I made for my partner:

Here it is on me.. sorry about the pic.. it's hard to take one of yourself in the mirror :-)

Here is the necklace on me to show how it is worn - the broach is made with the pinup fabric and vintage buttons:

I also made my partner some coasters with this great African Flower pattern that I love.. I used cotton yarn so it is more absorbent. Here are three of them:

I would love to make these into a blanket for myself.. someday :-)

In other fiber happenings, I did these cute Betty Boop flipflops (also for my stepmom) by crocheting the straps (and I made a loom flower for them as well):

I know this seems like a lot of stuff, but keep in mind it's about a month's worth.. There were a few more things I completed but was quick to get it out before I could get a pick of it.

We made a trip to New Orleans without the kiddos for a couple of nights... if you want to see the pics you can find them at this link:

Kid Free New Orleans Trip Pics - CLICK HERE

Miss Jas also had her piano recital! She did so well, and I must say was one of the best there! Here she is before the recital all prettied up:

And here is the video clip of her playing:

It's been a busy few months, but thankfully we slow it down a bit in the summer and have more freedom to do spontaneous stuff :-) Right now I am working a mile long list of things I have promised ppl and I want to make a good dent in it :-) Until next time, Much love and God bless!!

I'm sorry..

2010-05-12T19:18:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry because I am so bad about not blogging lately.. sorry that my posts haven't been riddled with funny anecdotes and exciting happenings... just a random post of things I have made.. It's been truly crazy around here.. I have three kids in baseball/softball.. my boys have two practices a week and at least one game a week.. my daughter has one practice and two games.. my daughter also has piano.. and my dad is staying with us for a couple weeks - and is healing from a bad motorcycle accident.. so I have been taking care of him too.. so the saying "no rest for the weary" is my matra this week.. I have found time to craft - just no desire to blog about it.. it's just way to easy to post pics on facebook and forget about it.. so I apologize for my absence..

Needless to say the kids have really been enjoying being with PawPaw:

Even Harli:

I have too.. I have had adult company during the day - which is unusual for me.. I guess in a way I didn't realize what a recluse I had become.. I periodically have to spend a few moments alone in my room to maintain.. I never used to be this way - I dunno what happened to me.. a lot of times Marcus has to drag me away from the house - and I USED to be a social butterfly!!

I have been making lots of things at dad's request.. I have been enjoying that because so often I try to figure out what I want to work on and just give up and don't work on anything.. but when I am given a specific request - it's a lot easier to get started.. so .. here's a rundown of what I have made since I blogged last:

First - I finally finished Jas' blanket... my very first crochet blanket I might add.. the center seemed sorta plain .. so I decided to add a rose cluster.. I am quite pleased:

I also decided to paint a canvas.. and I am very pleased with how it turned out. All of it is freehand - except for the fleur de lis - which I traced and then painted by hand:

Next are some turquoise necklaces for Dad and his wife.. I wire wrapped these myself:

Here's another necklace for my stepmom, with a handblown glass turtle pendant:

And this is a set I made for my stepmom's sister:

Last but not least - I got some stitching in!! It's making me WANT to do some more stitchery.. I totally love Badbird patterns!! They are so cute and unusual..so here is an ornie I made from a badbird pattern:

I also got this neat skeleton key pattern online (can't remember where or who is the creator) that I topped a cigar box with for my dad.. and I also did skeleton fabric inside:

One last item to share.. a friend of mine was kind enough to share some of her yarn stash.. and I was more than happy to give it it home..

Isn't it awesome?? Anyone else have some homeless yarn?? I would be happy to take it in :-)

Speaking of yarn - I have a lot of yarn calling my name.. Im going to get some tea and a crochet hook and relax a bit!!

Until next time, Much love and God bless!!

I'm walking in March for Babies in May

2010-04-26T15:29:00.000-07:00

Ok guys - I am walking for babies in March for Babies with March of Dimes in May.. me and my two boys, who were born prematurely. After my boys spent ten days in the NICU I know what a big deal this is.. so please consider a sponsoring our walk.. every single dollar counts.. if everyone donated dollar - imagine what the total would be!! If you click on the link above (I will also have a permanent link in the banner above my blog posts) you can donate online!! Easy Peasy.. thanks in advance!! Me and my boys will be doing the 3 miles.. now THIS should be interesting :-) I can accept checks by mail if you don't do online transactions.. and if nothing else say a prayer for the babies - and for us as we walk :-)

Until next time, much love and God bless.

Love it!!

2010-04-18T09:50:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have been to my blog before - you will notice some changes going on.. I have been dying to have a tabbed menu at the top ever since I saw them on Wordpress.. I have looked at the codes needed to put them on blogger, but it was more complicated than it was worth - especially after I tackled having scroll bars on my widgets..I wanted the tabbed menu because there is so much stuff I want to share like swaps, charity projects, etc.. but all those lists make the page too, uh.. busy...and I think it takes away from the blog posts themselves.. so apparently blogger finally added the capability.. and there they are.. it's all up there for you to browse - including a way to email me directly.. I LOVE it!!

On with the show.. my mojo has been on vacation - most likely because of how much stuff we have on our plates at the moment.. but also because my yarn cabinet looked like this:

I know.. a mess isn't it! I just kept cramming more in there..so I decided to refresh my mojo by destashing my cabinet next to this one and reorganizing my yarn collection.. here's what I came up with:

This cabinet has my cotton yarn, sock yarn, wool yarn, and super thick yarn:

This cabinet has all my acrylic yarn:

Now I have to find a home for a box of cross stitch books and all this unfinished wood stuff:

I want to find a local place to take it.. a nursing home or battered women's shelter that could make use of my craft stuff. You wouldn't believe the boxes and bags I already carted out of here and took to a shelter a few months ago.. and STILL I have a million and one craft supplies still in my cabinets and closet.. I would like to adopt a new mantra of not buying a supply unless it will be used in the next three months (excluding yarn purchases) and not unless I have a specific project in mind..hmm we shall see if I am able to stick to that :-)

Let's talk food!! I have been trying to eat healthier.. which I do most of the time.. and this is my new favorite breakfast:

That is multigrain bagels I picked up from my local grocery store.. a little philly cream cheese.. and my homemade ice tea (with splenda). I stepped away from my usual hot tea routine as the weather has warmed up. I make a jug of tea every few days or so as that is most of my fluid intake for the day - not to mention my caffine fix :-) I have to say tea is not at its best unless it is served in a mason jar glass!! My kids love waffles - and they are so inexpensive to make from Jiffy (or Bisquick) mix.. so this is what they have quite often (I add a little cinnamon to the batter) thanks to my great waffle iron:

Here's a hot tip for all my sugar addicts (like myself) trying to break the habit.. I discovered the most amazing sugar free pudding.. and it's DARK CHOCOLATE!!! Add a couple tablespoons of cool whip.. stir and you have chocolate mousse for under 100 calories..if you get sugar free cool whip then it's totally sugar free.. and still under 100 cal... and it tastes sooooooo good!!

One last tip for you guys on the craft front.. for those of you who knit or crochet.. Ravelry is one of my favorite sites for free patterns.. but I just discovered another place to get a bazillion and one more free patterns:

http://www.michaels.com/art/online/static?page=Free-Patterns

They have links there for free patterns from Lion Brand, Bernat, Patons, and Sugar and Creme. For those of us on a budget - there are so many free patterns out there that you will likely find one for free rather than having to fork out cash for a pattern.. and in this economy - that means a lot.

Well it's a beautiful Sunday in the neighborhood here.. my kidlets are playing outside right now.. I am going to run to the store to pick up some meat to barbeque.. fire up the grill (well its electric so- plug it in lol).. and take a crochet project outside.. maybe get a jumpstart on that summer tan the hubs likes so well!!!

Until next time - much love and God bless!!

I'm still here.. just been busier than a one-armed .. well you get the idea..

2010-04-16T14:37:00.000-07:00

Wanna know why?? You are looking at it above!! Our trucking business can't take all the blame though. We are in full swing of softball/tball so Mondays are usually the only weekday we aren't going to some kind of practice or game - and we even have them on Saturday mornings. In the process of being so busy I kinda lost my crafty mojo for a minute. I have a million projects I want to crochet.. but can't seem to land on one to start.. so I go back to that blanket for Jas, since it has no pattern.. just continuous granny square rounds.. which is about 22" square so far. I just started the purple round on this one:

I think perhaps it's time to organize my supplies.. when it gets cluttered it's hard for me to figure out what to start on next.. I started out with a small stash, but thanks to my hoarding occasional purchases and my dear friends that enable kindly donate their unwanted yarn (who could ever NOT want yarn??) to be.. I have grown quite a stash.. here it is in disarray:

The hoarder in me says to rearrange my stuff in the cabinet next to it to make room.. but when I am honest with myself I know I need to make another pass thru that cabinet and donate to charity the unfinished wood stuff that's in there.. I've honestly had most of it for several years now waiting for when I feel like doing tole painting again.. most of it was gotten on clearance very cheap.. so how much would I be out?? Not much.. and I hope to be able to bless someone else with my stuff.. and make room for uh.. more stuff :-)

Speaking of more stuff, I made a trade with a dear friend Sandy.. I traded some loom stuff for this awesome collection of yarns:

Actually I traded for the yarn at the bottom (some great Halloween sock weight yarn) and the wonderful Sandy threw in all that other yarny goodness!! She is the best!! I am hoping to put it to good use with this great book I got (using my 40% off Hobby Lobby coupon):

Now I have been working on something crafty.. for a year long swap I am in (which I am LOVING) - find the link in my sidebar "Year of Enchantment". I can't show what I made quite yet.. but here is a sneak peek of it all wrapped up:

Here's is my year long tree with some of the ornaments I got in the swap and some stuff given to us by friends:

Spring has sprung around these parts.. flowers are blooming.. birds are chirping.. the snakes are sunning themselves.. there is this beautiful but stinky tree blooming in the front yard:

By the time of this post all the stinky blooms are gone and it is now full and green.. my bushes are all blooming and have me thinking of what I might want to plant in the yard.. I really want some Rose of Sharon bushes like this one:

My grandmother had them lining her driveway and it reminds me of my childhood. I have yet to find any, but I know they can survive in this climate based on my internet research. My friend Susan also has me thinking of planting some hydrangea bushes too. I want something full and pretty. I don't want the plants that I have to replant every year.. I think bushes would work.. Ahh I love this time of year.. all the possiblities.. we shall see what comes to fruition :-)

Now I have to run because alas - yet another softball game tonight.. until next time - Much love and God bless!!

Im back!!!

2010-03-26T14:12:00.000-07:00

Well it's been quite a while since I have blogged.. I had nearly a 2 week vacation.. and if any of you reading this are mothers, then you know what's involved when you come home - unpacking, cleaning, trying to ease back into routines. In addition to all this I have been taking on more responsibilities with our trucking business and trying to get our second truck on the road. PLUS - the same day we came home from vacation, we started with baseball and softball. So needless to say, I haven't had a moments rest since we got home.. until now.. and it will be short moment because tomorrow is opening day for baseball and we have 2 games also.. SO.. here we go!!!

I want to say I LOVED my vacation.. even if there wasn't much sight seeing and mostly visiting with family. I really prefer that sort of vacation. I got to see family and friends.. I ate some of the local fare from back home (mmmmmm!!). If you would like to take a peek at my vacation pics - click on the pic below:

I have done a tad bit of crafting lately.. while on vacation all I managed to finish was a couple hats for my dad (which you can see in my vacation pics). I started a scarf for my step-mom and finished it once I got home. It was a lot of fun to make. It is a shell stitch scarf made with "I Love This Yarn" (hobby lobby brand) yarn that is super soft.

I also put together this package for the Year of Enchantment monthly swap. I crocheted a mushroom and did one out of felt (from a Moochi Moochi pattern). I included a tea wallet with some teas (since my partner likes tea) and a cute little dammit doll I made a while back. I hope she will like her package. This is generous package I got from her - I loved every bit of it!!!:

Here's what went in her package:

Also I want to tell you about a sweet little princess named Merika. She is 6 yrs old and is the daughter of a homeschooling friend of mine. Last week she started having seizures and they found a mass on her brain. She has since had surgery and they are trying to find out what it is. Little miss was quite upset at losing her hair she had been growing out - so her parents promised some princess wigs and pretty hats. Another friend of hers has started a "Hats for Merika" page on Caring Bridge here: Hats of Love for Merika They are accepting donations of things to keep Merika busy in the hospital and pretty hats. You can also make monitary donations on that page to help defer the cost of the parents eating out while in the hospital and parking costs. I know I have lots of friends in the crafty community that could spare the time for making just one adorable hat for this little princess -or really anything a true pretty princess would appreciate. If you would like to do so - email me at cshortprudhomme@yahoo.com I am going to put a big package(s) together for her to mail off together. Little Merika is not out of the woods yet, they still aren't sure what the mass is and it appears they didnt get it all with the first surgery. Most importantly, keep little Merika in your prayers - that is truly the best gift.

I made a hat for Merika (and am currently working on a matching purse) - it's a newsboy style hat which was made from a free pattern found here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/meagan-wants-you

Well that's it for now.. I have a busy weekend ahead of me right on the heels of the easter holiday with lots of family, food, and fun.. Until next time, Much love and God bless!!

Going on Vacation!!

2010-03-04T06:31:00.000-08:00

My blogging will be on Hiatus while I visit my home state of West Virginia (the city of Huntington if you want to find it on the map).. I will be visiting with friends and family and trying to cure this sudden bout of homesickness :-) I will be back around March 14 and I will be sure to share my trip with you!!

Until next time, much love and God bless!!

What have I been doing?

2010-02-20T12:00:00.000-08:00

This will be a post of few words..Im not feeling very chatty, but wanting to show what I have made in the last week.. so here goes:

I made this scarf in Mardi Gras colors for my mom.. I used 3 strands of worsted weight acrylic yarn and a jumbo sized crochet hook.. the picture altered the color a little bit, but you get the point:

I have also had crochet jewelry on the brain and was finally able to get it out of my head and into something tangible.. so here is the set and the necklace I made:

Also my son Eli requested an octopus out of the Amigurumi World book.. and I used some yarn leftovers to make it -which is why the body and legs are 2 diff yarns:

Lastly I made some earrings when trying out thread crochet and a pair of cherry earrings for a crafty friend of mine:

That's about it for now.. I have blankets to make and projects to plan.. have a lovely weekend.. and until next time - Much love and God bless!!

HAPPY MARDI GRAS/VALENTINES/PRESIDENT'S DAY!!!

2010-02-14T10:19:00.000-08:00

Laissez bon temps roulez!!! Or for you non-Louisianians - let the good times roll!! It's Mardi Gras season around these parts.. lots of parades, beads, partying, and celebrations!! We went and enjoyed some of the festivities:

Our Happy Mardi Gras Wishes:

Me in my Mardi Gras hat I purchased from one of the vendors:

And the kids enjoying the music and catching beads:

Other than that.. I have been crocheting my proverbial behind off!! I have been having such fun with it.. feeling inspired again.. It was obviously time for a change in mediums.. I am working on making some things out of this book:

I decided to start with something simple - an egg. I got some great fiesta colored cotton yarn - so I tried it out on the egg. Here it is:

I used that same yarn and made a dishcloth too. I am currently adding a more fancy edging to it - but here it is once I finished off the pattern:

I got on a dishcloth kick.. here's another one I made (complete with my improvised edging):

And here are some crochet valetine gifts that I can now share since they arrived at their destination:

Drink Coasters:

Bookmarks - also known as "book thongs" lol:

Jewelry - Lariat, necklace, and earrings:

Rose Broach:

Mom brought me some Mardi Gras colored yarn - so I am going to get out my knifty knitter loom and whip a scarf out for her :-) I need to make some baby hats too.. I got all my swap items done - so I can pretty much make whatever I feel like - which I love ;-)

I just want to wish everyone happy Mardi Gras, Valentines, and President's day. May you all be blessed to enjoy the love and family that I do. Until next time, Much love and God bless!!

More tales of a yarn addicted momma..

2010-02-06T17:38:00.000-08:00

Yes and the yarn addiction continues.. I have been wanting to figure out how to make these adorable amigurmi.. For those who don't know - Amigurumi is the japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures. It seemed like a daunting task - so I started small.. with an amigurumi fortune cookie. This first I messed up the instructions.. but it is still cute:

As a matter of fact - I redid it by following the pattern exactly - and ended up with this - which I actually don't like as much as the first one. I did it in honor of the upcoming Super Bowl - WHO DAT!!!

Having got those little fortune cookies under my belt.. I decided to try something more difficult - with different parts to make.. and I made this amigurumi guy.. I tweaked it a bit by adding hair and a heart for a Valentine theme:

I have been on quite a kick making hats for my new nephew since I was too tired to do so for my boys. I made him a Who Dat hat.. to match a Saints onesie he has:

Also tied in with the Super Bowl... I had my first order for dog collars.. a friend bought some Saints themed crochet dog collars..I love how they turned out:

Another friend has requested one of these as well.. who knew crochet items would generate this much interest!! Im excited because I am having such fun with yarn, crochet, knifty knitters!! I need to find some to trade my cross stitch supplies for their yarn!!

I also am playing with doing crochet jewelry.. this is my first prototype that has a few bugs to be worked out - but I am pleased with my first attempt:

On another note - must share what I got for the Vintage Valentine Swap.. her creator was Tammy Rose..I got her a while back, but I am just now getting around to loading the pictures. She really is adorable and is proudly displayed in my living room:

Lastly - I made my January Toy Society drop (remember I am trying to do AT LEAST one a month).. here are the pics that I finally got off my camera:

For those of you who are curious - our goats are doing well.. they are settling in and getting to be more at home.. I am starting to see the silly qualities of pygmy goats. I will have to bring out my video camera so you can see Cocoa's antics for yourself. Naturally big ole Apache can't be bothered with such silly things :-)

We are super busy with piano, basketball, school, etc. And we are about to add baseball to the mix. So things will be hectic and I may have longer periods of non-blogging. Feel free to see my facebook link in the righthand column of the blog -I am there regularly :-)

Until next time, Much love and God bless!! and GEAUX SAINTS!!

Yarn crazy!!

2010-01-30T13:45:00.000-08:00

Yes, I, Courtney Prudhomme, mother to 4 and wife to 1, am a yarn addict. It started when I made that hat for my new nephew... you remember the one.. with the cammo colors.. and it has spiraled from there. I recently posted a red scarf for Craft Hope Project #6, another hat and scarf for my nephew.. and I found the courage to try to crochet again.. in my practicing I started making collars for the pooch.. and they turned out quite cute.. so cute in fact that I have 2 orders from friends for their pooches. Here's Harli modeling the ones I made so far:

Ohh and the yarn craze doesn't stop there.. I thought... I always wanted to learn to do granny squares.. so I went to mikeysmail.com and found some awesome tutes.. here's the beginning of my first granny square and it finished with the black trim:

It's not the neatest granny - but I'm very proud of it :-) I decided to practice with some super thick yarn and make some extra extra large squares.. they just happened to be in Valentine colors - so I am going to trim them out in black yarn and use them as doilies:

I decided to make some valentine gifts with yarn.. so check out this cozy little heart coaster for one..I tried to fancy it up by adding some fringe to the edges.. I plan on personalizing some teabags and sending them as a set with the coaster and another goody or two.. I have more heart decor and gifts in the works:

I finished a project (completely finished) that has been hanging around since BEFORE I got married!! Now that's an old UFO (we will be married 6 yrs in Sept 2010). I finished the cross stitch portion around a year ago.. I found the perfect tray for it at a second hand shop.. It's a little bumped around - but it gives the cross stitch piece character.. I love how it turned out and I will be soon turning it over to my mother-in-law:

I don't know about your part of the world, but it's cold and wet here... perfect for me to play with my yarn and practice my crochet .. making decorations for Valentines day.. the imperfections don't bother me too much - so they work well in my house.. I have lots of projects to do and plenty of time to do it this weekend with most of my chores done for the week.

Until next time, much love and God bless!

I'm Knifty :-)

2010-01-22T08:48:00.000-08:00

I have been knifty knitting it for the past few weeks - and loving it... I shared with you already what I purchased recently.. now look what I made!! I made this scarf and hat combo for my nephew. I used some super-duper soft baby yarn:

I am also working on a red scarf for the Craft Hope Project 6 that gives these scarves to foster care teens going off to college. You can find out more about it here. If you want to get involved the deadline for them to receive scarves is Valentines day. Here's my progress so far - I have used up one skein of this great wool ease yarn (VERY soft) and will use a good portion of the next one..

There really are so many possibilities with these looms now.. you can make clothes, blankets, socks.. not just hats and scarves..I hope my family likes knitted stuff cuz that is on the list for Christmas in 2010.

I also wanted to plug these great tutorials for not just the looms, but also traditional crochet. I searched for some good tutes and Mikey's were truly the best. Very clear video, and explained very well. Here's his website where you can find a link to his tutorials: http://www.mikeyssmail.com/

Here's the video I am using to try again to learn traditional crochet:

http://www.youtube.com/mikeyssmail#p/search/1/CfFRoZxeNrU

I have been going on and on for the last few years about goats.. we visited some friends that had pygmy goats and they were just adorable. Sometime last year we fixed up what used to be a fenced in chicken coop (made by previous owners of our house).. we fixed the holes in the fence and the hubs totally redid the door. We were supposed to get some goats from the hubs coworker - but that never materialized. I mentioned goats again to the hubs the other day and he said - find someone that is selling them and we will go get 2. I was in shock.. I didn't have to talk him into it or anything.. no convincing.. no nudging.. I lucked into finding a local breeder that was looking to liquidate his herd due to his children loosing interest. I managed to get 2 pedigreed, registered pygmy goats.. one wether (Apache) and one female (Cocoa). Both are sweet and docile. Apache is more socialized and friendly but Cocoa is warming up to us slowly but surely. Without further ado - here are our newest family members.. and yes - I finally do have a menagerie :-)

I also finished destashing my craft cabinets in my dining room. Here are some books that I took out and decided to donate since they haven't been used in some time. I am going to donate these to the Battered Women's shelter as well. I am going to start another box including some cross stitch supplies that I will destash out of the final storage I have in the wash table next to my recliner. I dont have a lot of thread to donate, but what I donate will give them a good starting place:

Well there is a crochet hook and yarn calling my name.. not to mention my children and all my other duties around here ;-)

Until next time - much love and God bless!!

hmmmmm .. hoard much?

2010-01-18T17:46:00.000-08:00

See all that stuff.. all the boxes and bags? That all came out of my craft closet (aka my 9 yo's closet that I took over).. there are craft magazines, decor magazines, loads and loads of fabric that was donated to me (most of which I am pretty sure I would never use), cross stitch kits, rubber stamps, home decor, kids art supplies, clothes, etc. Oh and my 9yo added that blue bag. I decided to destash my stash. I want to work on paring down the supplies I keep on hand - cutting down on clutter. I contemplated offering it to different people, and then decided that I wanted to give it to a charitable organization.. one close to my heart - and The Calcasieu Parish Battered Women's Shelter came to mind. I too am an abuse survivor, and want to help those in that unfortunate situation. I called and was told they do indeed take donations of my sort- and I will be going by there in the hubs truck to drop it off. I encourage anyone reading this to find your local battered women's shelter and make it your business to get involved in some way - even if it's to donate goods. I plan on going thru my extra appliances and donating those too. I imagine they help get the women situated in new housing - many who up and leave their homes with nothing but the clothes on their back. Here's my local shelter's website in case you are local or if you would like to donate money: http://www.cwshelter.org/index.php

I have been getting these warmed up lately:

Some of you might remember that hat I made for my nephew:

I really forgot how fun these were. You can sit in front of the tv and knit away.. And now I am working on this one - a hat and scarf combo for the same baby (I promise Julia, this is the last one):

I also got online and joined a Knifty Knitter group. It is a lot of help and provides lots of great links. I also decided I needed the rest of the rectangle looms and one to make flowers with (yes O.C.D. tendancies, I know):

I also found these loom clips that help decrease to make various items..

I guess the reason I have so much stuff is because when I get rid of stuff I replace it with something else :-) Oh well..

I am also working on a super secret CQ project.. I can't show it because its for one of my readers (and lovely family members) and I don't want to ruin the suprise.. but I will show you this combo seam treatment I am VERY pleased with:

It's hard to tell, but this is a black pieced block.. I am thinking of using only thread that is either shades of white and shades of red..

I am in the middle of reading this book now:

Its outside my normal genre of books - but I am enjoying it very much. It's about twins that are born to a couple and when the father (who is a DR) and his nurse deliver one healthy and one with down syndrome - he sends his nurse with the sickly baby to put her in a home. The nurse ends up keeping the baby - and that's all I will say to avoid ruining it for anyone else. I am also halfway thru an audio version of this book (also not within my normal genre):

I borrowed this one from my mom to listen to on our way home. My question is this - how do they fit the reading of an ENTIRE book on 6 hrs of CD? I imagine we will listen to it during errands tomorrow.

I am proud to announce my 9yo is playing basketball for the first time. I don't know how seriously she is taking it, but she seems to have enjoyed her first practice. I will be very busy.. 2 games a week, 1 practice, and 1 piano practice.. It might not sound like much, but put homeschool and everything else on top of it.. and it makes for a busy week. So I may not be blogging .. or surfing around as much.. but I will try to check in regularly and show lots of pictures.

I am about to clean myself up and finish off that baby scarf.. until next time.. much love and God bless!!!

Making progress!!!

2010-01-13T18:59:00.000-08:00

I have been making progress in different areas in this first couple wks of January.. First things first.. I have lost 3 lbs!! Whoo hoo!! Slow and steady wins the race.. that's my approach this year..

Next is my progress on the Destash-Along.. It didn't take a lot of time but I got these glass jars I have been .. uh.. collecting.. jelly jars.. pickle jars.. they've all been hiding out in my craft closet waiting to be painted ( I was going thru a jar painting phase a year or two ago).. I decided to clear them out of my closet and put them to use or throw them out.. I used them to hold various things next to my computer and tied a little fabric tie on them to make them decorative:

I am also making progress on my goal of one toy drop per month. Here's the toy I will be dropping off at my public library tomorrow:

Also, I had been wanting to make some decor for Valentines Day.. and with some swap items out of the way - I finally got around to it. I was very pleased with it - and it didn't take a ton of time. I also managed to showcase some vintage buttons that were given to me. Here is my felt heart garland.. also shown is this strange red "ribbon" that I have had for ages.. it is actually hard and feels to have some sort of wire that bends and keeps it in place:

I am also working on a Valentine Basket for a friend and made this little girl to go in the basket:

I also got my first swap package for the Year of Enchantment. I can't show what I sent yet because she haven't received it. My partner Anna of Chickens in the Basement sent me these WONDERFUL, AWESOME, CUTE, ADORABLE, BEAUTIFUL, CLEVER ornaments that represent each of my family members:

She also sent me these super cool vintage buttons from her stash.. IMAGINE.. from her personal stash.. I like being generous, but my buttons I covet!! It would be hard to turn some over :-) She even sent them in this cute glass jar:

Last but not least - she sent me this sheet of ephemera and a cute card that is SURE to be upcycled!!

I know you remember that we got a fire pit for New Years .. well we got it out again to roast marshmallows.. and somehow it turned into Daddy and the kids playing with this pvc pipe. We laughed and I took pictures, but I must say that it pleases me that my kids are so easily amused.. they make their own fun.. and they take the simplest of things and make them fun. I attribute that partially to their own natures and partially to how we raise them:

I plan on making a trip to New Orleans this weekend to visit my mom, and do some clothes sewing.. she has purchased tons of patterns for the both of us. We both recently got re-interested in making clothes for ourselves (and the kiddos).. this should be fun. My mom is a great seamstress and can teach this self proclaimed non-direction-follower a thing or two.

Until next time, much love and God bless!!

Ya know what gets on my nerves?

2010-01-09T15:03:00.000-08:00

Well, what gets on my nerves is working on a puzzle for hours.. only to find out that my children lost some of the pieces.. not only that - my husband found some pieces and gave them to the children- only for the children to throw them in a random bag in a box of 10 puzzles. Now I have to put them all together to find the pieces for the first puzzle I worked. What's even worse - the next puzzle I put together is missing a piece. What would really get my panties in a wad is if I put them all together and never find the missing pieces.. I am tempted to throw the whole kit and kaboodle in the garbage and start over with a puzzle that is unopened *sigh*..

Now that that rant is out of the way, my lovely little piano teacher was putting together puzzles lately too. I guess that is a popular cold weather pastime. She ended up giving us two cute puzzles. One of them is REALLY up my alley because it's only 500 pieces.. AND.. it's made to look like needlework.. how fun! The other one is more challenging - a photomosaic puzzle with 1000 pieces. Here's the puzzles she gave us:

I haven't gotten much crafting done this week.. well truthfully.. I did puzzles and read in my free time - I didn't do any crafting at all. I think it's nice to take a break sometimes, refresh the mojo.. let her rest a big.. but I think she's ready to go back to work :-)

Speaking of work, my boys have been working on their letters on the grease board side of their easle. They are doing quite well, just see for yourself:

We managed to make it thru our first week back homeschooling after the holidays.. and it went smoothly, much to my suprise. We started by adding in a new curriculum (more like a unit study) from Fortunately for you:

These are a great addition to what we were already doing. It tells you about different holidays during the month (this week we discussed National Bean day, National Cuddle Up day, National Oatmeal Month, etc). There are related activities and worksheets. Each month it discusses different authors that have birthdays that month and their related works. I integrate our reading into that portion by selecting one (or more) of their works for us to read during the month. We also do book reports on those books. It easily can be your history, reading, chemistry/home ec (cooking), art curriculum. Each month's purchase is less than $5 - that's less than $70 per year. We still do our "Story of the World" history - but Remember Me Pockets really rounds out our study. You can find their products here.

On to the Book Chick Thriller and Suspense Challenge for 2010... I finished my first book:

It was a good book, but tragic. It's about a little girl that disappears and it isn't reported for over a month. The mom is a habitual liar and very suspect. The parents pick up her car to smell what smells, to her father (a former police officer), a dead body. The book puts together evidence and first hand accounts from the different people involved in the mom and daughter's life. I love true crime, mainly on tv, but I wanted to try this book because I didn't get a chance to get a background on the story. I had only seen a few clips here and there after she was arrested. This is a good book for someone who wants more info arranged in an interesting way. The book really was a page turner. I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars - 4 because (at no fault of the author) the trial has not been concluded. Next on my list is "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote:

I have seen the movie, but never read the book. This is not a new book but has been revived by the success of the movie. I love reading the books AFTER having seen the movie - to get a little more detail. I am going to wait until Feb 1st to get started on this book - so I don't get burned out on my mystery/thriller books.

I have a mountain of laundry calling to me.. and I have some swaps with partners assigned that are also calling to be worked on. So until next time, Much love and God bless.

Social Justice Challenge - January 2010 - Religious Freedom

2010-01-04T13:53:00.000-08:00

Our January cause in the Social Justice Challenge is "Religious Freedom". Wow... that's a good one to start off the year. This is very controversial - even in my own household! We are Christians, but my husband and I sometimes disagree where that fine line that separates personal religious freedom and overstepping someone ELSE'S rights. Here are the questions posed by the host of the challenge:

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of religious freedom?

The first thing that comes to my mind is our forefathers coming to this country to be able to worship and practice whatever religion they wanted - free of persecution- and in some cases, jailtime. I am a Christian, and am raising my children as Christians... but I recognize that regardless of what religion a majority of the settlers were - many came here, running from tyranny and oppression, and many of them had different religious beliefs. So wouldn't it be wrong to expect all the people of our country to practice our religion exclusively? I pray everyday, but I see no freedom in forcing muslim children to pray as I pray. My freedoms cannot impede the freedom of others. Their parents have the right to raise them as they see fit - and that includes praying (or not). I believe that government and church should be kept separate. While I have Christian morals and values - a Christian that came into power might have very radical beliefs and perhaps thinks it's wrong to have interracial marriage.. unfortunately when you put government in charge of religious morality - you are taking a chance that a radical may end up at the helm and take away rights we ordinarily don't look at as particularly religious. When you open the door just a crack, you are opening up a can of worms that aren't apparent at first.. that's something I don't want to be a part of. I would rather be in charge of mine and my family's morals and values rather than giving the government that power.

What knowledge do you have of present threats to religious freedom in our world today?

One of the threats I am aware of is related to the UN Convention of the Rights of a Child. It totally gives the government the power to decide what's morally right for our children. It can take our children away for making them attend church with us - or even for what they decide is going to church too often. As Christians, It is our right, and our duty to raise our children in fear and admonition of the Lord. We teach them by example. We are the grown-ups and we know what's best - not the children and not the government. This convention has not yet been ratified, but I have read that Obama's administration WANTS to. I like Obama, but I have a bone to pick with him about this.

Have you chosen a book or resource to read for this month?

I am reading a pamphlet from The Voice of the Martyrs website called "Is Secret Christian work "illegal"? I also ordered a free book from their website "Tortured for Christ" that I want to read this month. I would also like to do some internet research and see what I can find.
Why does religious freedom matter to you?

It matters to me because our forefathers came here to ensure that we had it. It matters to me because when you allow your religious freedom to be stolen from you it opens the door for much worse.

Happy New Year!!!!!!

2010-01-01T23:49:00.000-08:00

A video greeting.. to all of you!! I swear I would photoshop myself out if I could.. yuck.. they say video adds 10 lbs.. I say 20.. at least I hope that's just the video.. ugg! Anywho..

We started the new year off with a bang.. well more like a pow... the hubs shot his shotgun (we live in the country) and we had some poppers I got from Walmart. We didn't buy any fireworks this year. I didn't see many fireworks tents and we were too tired to search.. but thankfully our neighbors bought some and we enjoyed watching theirs. Earlier in the evening we visited with friends, ate a lovely dinner at Texas Roadhouse, and headed home for the festivities. We had a purchased a fire pit for this occasion and it was enjoyed by all. We enjoyed hotdogs, roasted marshmallows, smores, and the warmth of the fire.

When we came back inside - we had a sparkling grape juice toast to the new year:

The hubs and I are looking forward to a year that brings us closer and stronger as a couple, increasing our communication skills, understanding, and compassion for each other. I am also looking to become more spiritually "centered" - or more "focused". I plan to achieve that by delving into meditation to improve my prayer life. We also want to go back to our nightly Bible study and prayer time. In addition to that, I personally want to explore the written works of spiritual leaders from different religions. I believe there is much to be gained from spiritual leaders whether they belong to your religion or denomination or not. I started the year off with this book:

It's very good so far. Some of the budist references are a little difficult for me to understand, but I am making my way thru it. I really like it when the writer gives real life references for clarification - makes it easier for the layperson. I refuse to be put in the Christian box. I believe nothing but good can come from reading the writings of the spiritually enlightened.. one would be suprised how similar the non-Christian spiritualists aren't so different than the Christian ones. Of course there is a certain amount of discernment one must use to cipher the good from the bunk... but you have to do that in your day to day life. This year I would like to do some studying on different religions - some of the major ones - Hinduism, Buhdism, Islam, and of course my own - Christianity. I would also like to do some research on the Dead Sea Scrolls. That topic has always fascinated me - and I would like to do some real research on the subject. I would like to study on meditation as well.

I guess I am on a spiritual journey this year :-) I would like to include yoga in my repitoir as well. I started in 2009, but I want it to be a more regular part of my routine. I would like to start with 3 times a week and work my way to 5. I want this to become a lifestyle - not just a new year's resolution that is forgotten after a month. I want to re-adopt my healthy eating and getting healthy. I believe I will leave the scale alone for a while and focus on getting a habit started. It seems that so often I have my eye on the scale and the moment there is an upturn of even a pound, I get discouraged. This new way of life is not just to lose weight, but mainly to get healthy - at whatever weight my body settles at. I feel that this focus keeps things in the positive direction and is more likely to lead me to success.

Sadly I didn't get many entrants for my stitching giveaway - so both Meari and Pirjo will get a package from me. Ladies please email me your mailing address at: cshortprudhomme@yahoo.com

Also - I didn't get any guesses for the handmade bookmark giveaway so I will continue it thru this Wednesday. Here's the question:

Who was the first serial killer who's biography I read? If there is more than one right guess I will put the right guessers in a hat and draw a name. The winner will win a handmade bookmark from me!! Please be sure to comment on this post with your answer and leave your email address for me to contact you if you are a winner.

I don't have much to show for the last couple days craft wise.. I did, however, manage to sew a skirt for myself (with my mom's help). It turned out cute - although I am not so sure the flare isn't too wide.. I will find the right shirt to go with it and see.. and PERHAPS take a pic in it :-) I also pieced a CQ block, that I can't show because it is a gift for someone who reads my blog :-)

I have some swaps to start thinking about - and one to finish.. and right now - I am about to read using my stepdaughter's kindle reader.. it's great and I am ALMOST convinced that I want one. It's a really neat gadgette, but at $260 a piece - it warrants further consideration. It was great that my stepdaughter had one so that I could test it out in person before purchasing one.

So until next time - Much love and God bless!!

Challenges, charity, and a GIVEAWAY!!

2009-12-30T08:50:00.000-08:00

I saw this challenge on Susan's blog and couldn't help myself. I love to read almost as much as I love to craft (they are neck and neck really), so why not join a challenge to go along with my love of reading? Click on the picture above to get info on the link and perhaps join as well. You would be surprised how many different genre's fit into mystery/thriller. Two of my favorites fit in the thriller/mystery genre (according to the list provided by Book Chick City) - True Crime and Supernatural Thriller. I even know what book I will read first - "Grave Suprise" by Charlaine Harris. It's the second in that series and I have it already in my collection. They also selected a book I would like to read (since I saw the movie) - "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote. Go to their website and check it out. You can write reviews, but you don't have to. You only have to read 12 books in the coming year. That is 1 per month - easy peasy I say!
The aforementioned Susan hosted a giveaway in relation to this challenge so I will follow suit. If you can guess the serial killer that was the subject of the first true crime book I ever read - you will receive one of my handmade bookmarks. Comment on this post being sure to give me your email address. All correct guesses will receive a bookmark. You have until my next posting to guess - and 1 guess per person.

Because I have challenge OCD, I found this one that I wanted to join as well. As a stay-at-home mom I have wanted to use my time to serve others (in addition to my family). I am drawn to charitable endeavors and ways to help make this world a better place for all. This fits right into what I am interested in. With this challenge each month a different "cause" is selected and you must read and watch on that cause and in some instances (at least 3 times during the year) actively do something to make a difference in the world for that cause. I plan on including this in my lesson plans for the kids and we will all participate. What better way for them to learn than from my example? I want want aware and well-rounded children - this is a great start to that desire. Click on the pic above to get more info on joining yourself - you will be glad you did.

This is another great cause to support. I participated in the toy society project in 2009 and plan on continuing in 2010. I am challenging myself in this department in 2010. I want to do at least 1 toy drop per month. The Toy Society website explains how to join. It's very worthwhile. It's a random act of kindness that can really brighten someone's day. You make a small stuffy (your choice) and drop it for someone to pick up - no strings attached. Click the toy society pic for more info.

One more giveaway.. I have a cross stitch bundle to giveaway. Patterns and some fabric! Simply comment on this post telling me how you plan on being charitible and/or contributing to social change. Don't forget to include your email address so I can contact you if you win. I will be drawing a winner out of a hat on Sunday.

Until next time - Much love and God bless!!

I'm not ready...

2009-12-29T09:36:00.000-08:00

"Not ready for what?", you ask. Well, not ready to put my snowmen away.. not quite ready to give up the cool of winter.. not ready to take my snowflakes off the window. Here in Louisiana it seems we have 2 seasons - 2 months of winter and 10 months of summer. Quite often in Louisiana you will see people wearing shorts and plants blooming in December. That is a far cry from the blizzards in winter back home in West Virginia. I miss the long colorful fall, the snowy months of winter, and the breezy spring. I have put away my Christmas decorations (took them down Christmas night), but in rebellion I have left all my snowmen out. I would like to enjoy them into January, before I start putting up Mardi Gras decorations. I want to note I was quite disturbed by my trip to the store yesterday when I saw Valentines day cards put out.. ahh if only they knew they need only put them out the day before Valentines day - when most husbands and boyfriends purchase them. :-)

Hope everyone had a blessed Christmas - we sure did. We visited with family and friends. My friend from Florida Schon, and her husband and son came to visit. Their son is a month younger than mine. We call them the triple threat - Discord, Havoc, and Mayhem (or as Schon's hubby likes to call them - the reverse oreo):

There was lots of presents exchanged.. I cleared 3 garbage bags of toys and trash out of the boys room to make space for their new stuff. Here's just a small sampling of what they got (not shown is lots of little toys and clothes):

Of course, Jas got tons of stuff. Lots of clothes and things, but what she asked for was stuff to redecorate her room. A good friend of mine had given me a bunch of Hannah Montana pictures that her daughter had outgrown a few months back. So she got similar themed things for her room. From Daddy and I, she got a tv for her room (no more watching tv with her brothers in their room) - and we are having cable installed in her room as well. Here's some pics of her spoils:

I got lots of good stuff too - clothes, a blender, jewelry, etc. My hubs got me this really cute purse that I am currently using (he picked this out all by himself):

Even Harli got goodies - here she is in the coat Nana made for her (pink and black plaid):

A couple of years ago for Christmas I got a Betty Crocker cookbook - the red, binder one. Well it's got tons of great recipes. I decided to make a spinach and bacon quiche for Christmas morning. It was my first time making a quiche, and it was delicious if I do say so myself :-) I would give a tip though - mix the egg and cream and pour in the shell - THEN add the cheese, bacon and spinach to each individual pie. I found out that all the ingredients sink to the bottom of the bowl, and it makes it difficult to have an equal amount of ingredients in each pie when you are mixing the filling for multiple pies at one time. Here is my Christmas quiche:

I did get TONS of goodies cooked to give out to our Christmas visitors. I spent HOURS dipping pretzels and marshmellows in chocolate.. baking cookies... everything turned out great.. I rolled the chocolate covered pretzels in sprinkles, pecans, and left some plain. It was simple - I melted chocolate chips in the microwave, added a couple table spoons of shortening and dipped.. then put the dipped items in the fridge for the chocolate to reharden. Here's a few of them on display:

Here's the peppermint bark before I broke it up:

And here's my helper.. err .. uhh.. cleaning up.. lol:

The boys and I also left out juice and cookies for Santa:

We also added a new truck to our fleet over the holidays - ain't she perty:

Here's both our trucks pictured together:

The holidays weren't free of crafting of course.. I got some stitching done. Here's something I made for myself - it's currently displayed above the snowmen on my hoosier cabinet:

I made this as a gift for a kid's contest for our homeschool group newsletter. The winner loves chess - so I made up this stitchery pattern:

I am very proud to say that I think I have passed on my creative spirit to my children. My son Eli turned to me and said - guess what I am!! An Artist!! Here he is right after he made that statement:

They also begged for these things they saw on tv - and of course Nana bought them for them. Each of the kids got a pack of Bendaroos - and I highly recommend them.. very little mess is created, they are reusable, and they are easy to pack away in a container. They provide hours of entertainment for my kiddos. I would only say that they do leave a slight wax residue behind if you wrap them on things like pencils, as I found out:

I want to close out this post with something to make you laugh. My children do things that make me laugh quite often. Sometimes being silly, and sometimes being creative. This is a combination of the two. I was watching tv in the recliner when I heard my son Jay say "Let me try this out...." I suspected that would be a recipe for disaster.. so when I turned I saw him stepping on a piece of the banana peel that came from the banana he had just eaten. I then realized what he was doing - he was trying to see if he could really slip on a banana peel like on the cartoons.

He discovered it didn't work, and I immediately made a mental note to pay closer attention to what he watches - so he doesn't try out anything more dangerous!

May you all have a great and safe New Years!! See you next year!!

Much love and God bless.

P.S. Me and the boys decided to take a photo opp.. here's the results:

A new day, a new year (on it's way), and a new blog!!

2009-12-21T23:09:00.000-08:00

I finally decided to relocate my blog to an address that matches my blog name. I feel that "The Cajun Hillbilly Housewife" embodies all that I am, do, and make. Don't you? My old blog posts will still be available at the old blog: http://mommasgoodies.blogspot.com but you will no longer be able to comment there. I would like to return to more regular blog posts, and more dynamic than just a rundown of the things I made that week. I want to include more of our homeschooling and more of my "views" of things. I would like to share recipes, and maybe do a few tutes. Who knows what you might find here!!

I have a dear old friend that is quite perturbed with me right now. She has reminded me of how I PROMISED to bring her out and share the Christmas holiday with her. I promised to take pictures with her. I promised to let her participate in our festivities. This friend of mine is Annie. She's been with me since the day I was born. Carefully I removed her from the cabinet in which she was residing. I got her all caught up on what's going on.. I showed her all the presents I packaged up:

I showed her the picture we are doing as a "picture study" in homeschool this week - which coincides with the holiday coming up:

Then I showed her all the supplies for the sweet treats we will be making tomorrow, and I promised I would not only let her help, but make her her very own apron.. which is the least I could do since I robbed her of her original clothes when I was a very irresponsible child.

Now that Annie has quieted down I can share a few other things with you. I have been working on a few presents. Not in my usual fashion of doing way more than I have time for, but on a much smaller scale. Which is fitting for one of the recipients - my new nephew that was born in October. I made these for him:

Bibs:

Onsies appliqued with a red bird and a football:

I also took a pic of the kids (and Harli) and made a custom frame for it. These will be given to the grandparents:

I have one last minute present in the works that will be done and mailed out tomorrow. This was a henna tattoo pattern (from hennabyheather.com) that I converted into an embroidery pattern. I am VERY pleased with how it turned out. It's either going to become a pillow or a wall hanging. The recipient is one of those ppl that uses a purse till it falls to pieces and doesn't use totes often.

I got an awesome box of goodies from my partner in the Jingle Swap. For this swap you were to send 10 individually wrapped presents to your partner - at least 2 of which must be handmade. I strangely didn't take pics of what I sent (which is not like me), but when my partner posts what she got I will have to send you to her blog to go see. I have created a slide show to let you see all the awesome goodies I received. And YES I opened them already, NO I didn't wait, and YES I am worse than a little kid when it comes to waiting to open gifts. It started out with the reasoning that "I will only open one, that won't hurt anyone.." and before I knew it I had opened them all. Each gift was so cool I just had to see what else there was in the box for me. My partner (Ria) was an awesome and thoughtful partner, and it's been fun getting to know her. Here's a the slideshow of goodies I promised - try not to be TOO jealous :-) :

I have a couple of boys that are under the weather right now. It started with my daughter and carried over to them - runny noses, coughing, low grade temps, and droopiness. I'm thankful that's all it has been and they are on the mend. No more above normal temps and I can tell by their eyes they are feeling better. Not to mention their appetites are picking back up again. Praise God! I was just hoping it would improve before Christmas - as it appears to be doing. I guess I will be getting out the lysol to prevent it from carrying over to us and our company during the holidays.

Speaking of the holidays, I have LOTS of goodies to create tomorrow, so I better get some sleep. I hope you have found your way to my blog easily and keep coming back. I promise to be more of a presence here and hope to brighten your day a little.

I will close with this pic of my Harli finding a new place to sleep. This is behind my recliner - where she likes to be when I am sitting in it:

Until next time - Much love and God bless!!