Housekeeping

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, because it's no secret but I am a terrible housekeeper.  I did really well for a while but then I got pregnant and I've sort of been using that as an excuse to do the absolute bare minimum around the house and things were getting out of control.

I looked around the other day and I was actually embarrassed and had to tell myself that I am a better than this, and this is shameful and it's time to pull up my socks and make an effort.

I've seen a bunch of different cleaning schedules on Pinterest and this particular day another one showed up and it seemed like the perfect solution so on Monday I started to follow this schedule.

Saturday is my favourite, we live in a condo so we're not in charge of anything outside meaning I get two days off in a row.  I know it sounds ridiculous but this week this schedule has worn me out.  Some of this stuff I hadn't done in an embarrassingly long time and I look forward to next week when it's all much easier.

I decided I wanted to turn this list into a checklist that I can frame and mark off as I complete each task or at least be able to easily see what I'm supposed to do so I slightly altered the schedule and made this really basic printable.  I printed it and put it in a frame I already owned and I hung it in my closet (I don't need everyone that stops by to see how well I've done).  Now I can use a white board marker to cross off what I've done or just easily refer to the list to see what needs to be done.

So everyday I'm supposed to de-junk for 10 minutes but this is probably the only housekeeping task I'm awesome at.  I have no problem throwing out junk and we don't collect it in the first place so I can skip that step.  On Monday I'm supposed to wash my bathroom floors and I'll also wash my kitchen floor that day too, then on Wednesday I'll sweep.  Tuesday I'm supposed to vacuum the bedrooms but I'll save that for Friday and vacuum the entire house.

Let's hope I can keep things up and have a presentable house, wish me luck.

Making the World Cuter

I wanted to write a rare Saturday post to let you know that today my Make-up Magnet Board is being featured at Making the World Cuter, you should go check it out.

I love Tiffany's blog and have been reading it for quite some time, you can find all sorts of inspiration there especially with the clothing re-fashions she's been doing lately.  If you're in a blog slump and looking for something new than check it out.

My Make-up Routine

I thought to go along with my Make-Up Magnet Board from yesterday I'd show you some of my favourite products and my beauty routine.  Now keep in mind that I have no idea what I'm doing and I'm by no means an expert, this is just what I do, right or wrong.

Here's a before, fresh from the shower and what I'll finish with.

I always start with my eyes and I first curl my lashes.  I do them first because I have leaky eyes and curling often makes them water.  If I wait until everything is finished than my leaky eyes smudge the finished product.  Once I've curled I apply an eye shadow primer.  

Now a word on primers... I've only been using them for a couple weeks now.  I borrowed one from my friend Michelle but I was extremely skeptical that I'd see any difference, I thought that they would do nothing and were just a cosmetic cash grab but I could not have been more wrong.  In my opinion a primer does a few things, it makes your shadow last a lot longer without creasing; it also makes it go on a lot smoother, you can't see any brush strokes and it's much easier to blend multiple colours.  I think it makes it possible to use some cheaper shadows and make them more useable.  I also love the shimmer primer to amp up any sparkle in your shadow.  If I couldn't put on a primer I probably wouldn't use shadow because I don't see the point anymore.  I have two eyeshadow primers, both by MAC.  One in Painterly and one in Bare Study.  If you don't own one you should get one.

Today I used the shimmery Bare Study and once I've primed I shadow.  I used these ones today but not all of them, really.

I started with the L'Oreal H.I.P. in Flare and used the orangey colour over my lid from the centre to the outer corner.  These H.I.P. shadows are super pigmented and awesome, I have two different combos and I love them both.  I then applied MAC Motif from the inside corner of my eye to the centre.  I used a little MAC Whistle in the centre to blend them together. I then used my Wet n Wild Vanity pallett to highlight my brow bown using the matte cream colour on the bottom left.


To apply those colours I used my Mini Mop paint brush from Michaels.  It's made for painting but the bristles are all natural and the same quality of MAC brushes for much cheaper.


Once my shadow is on I apply my liner.  I recently started using Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner in Blackest Black.  I apply with a brush to the top and the bottom.  I love this liner though once it's on it's really on and you need a good remover to take it off at the end of the day.  It looks like a liquid liner but you have much more control.

With my liner on I applied a little orange HIP to the corner of my bottom lid and a little of the MAC Whisper beside that.


Time for mascara and I'm pretty sure people think I'm crazy when they know I use two mascaras.  I couldn't get the look I wanted with just one though.  I want my top lashes to be super long, thick and as black as I can get, the Colossal Volume Express by Maybelline in Glam Black does a great job of that but I thought it looked spidery and awful on my bottom lashes.  They're already really long so instead I want something to thicken and be not as dramatic on the bottom so I use Great Lash in Brownish Black.  It does exactly what I want it too and is applying two mascaras really any more time consuming than one? (it's not)

My eyes are now done so I put on a little concealer under my eyes and on any blemishes (I ususally do this step before I put on my bottom mascara).  Then I apply foundation with a sponge.

I put the Hard Candy Hula Hula bronzer on my cheek bones and anywhere the sun would hit (like my nose, chin and forehead).  Then I add blush to the apples of my cheek.  I use the really big brush to wipe under my cheekbones and get rid of any fallout, this helps create definition too.

So that's it.  While it sounds like a lot it really only takes 15 ish minutes depending on how much I focus on my eyes.  And my Make-up board makes finding all the different shades a snap.  I also slapped on some Bath & Body Works Liplisious gloss in Raspberry Jam, I'll re-apply that throughout the day. Here's a photo re-cap of everything I used, though tomorrow I'll do something completely different on my eyes.

Here's a photo of my lids (boy these photos are tough to take)

And here's one more after, ready for the day.

(yes, the grey streak is natural)

What's in my Bag 2.0

Somehow I forgot the post a picture of the only thing in my purse that's actually cute and worth sharing, my wallet. I got this not too long ago and while it's very small and a definite sacrifice of space it's worth it and I love it.

What's in my Bag?

Michelle tagged me to see what's in my bag, I'll admit... I'm a little afraid to show you my really ugly bag.

First let me show you what I wish I was carrying around.

 I bought this beauty and loved it until the strap nearly fell off.  Now before I can use it I need to take it somewhere to have it fixed, perhaps this will be the incentive I need.

Until it's fixed this is the diaper bag I carry around 90% of the time.

Pretty much the only thing it has going for it is the cute polka dots on the inside.

Inside we'll start with the diaper, wipes change mat case.  Cute hey?

It was just Sunday and we were away from town so the bag is full of things to entertain Catie.  A Car, some beanbags, an Eye-Spy bag and some books.

Some Goldfish crackers, and empty plastic bag and her favorite toys right now, a couple gold coins, some crayons and a glad container.

A dirty bib and some dirty tights.

Some keys, a pen some finger puppets and a fork... really?  A fork?  Some other snacks.

And lastly a little lip gloss and lotion.

Okay, now onto the purse I use when I don't have Catie with me.

I like this purse a lot but it's really small.

A bunch of receipts, a change purse and spare change.  $10 I didn't know I had, hurray!  Band aids, an expired coupon, my passport, a hair elastic and an after bite stick.  In the middle of winter?  Seriously?  Cause I'm sure I'll need that.  A chocolate, a mint, a tape measure (you never know when you'll need it) and a pen.  And lastly two of my favorite lip glosses from Bath and Body Works.


So there you go, a very long and detailed pictures of every single thing that's in my purse.

Twitter Time

It's finally finished!

Those were my thoughts tonight and I just wanted to share it on the blog but the photos aren't ready.  Or the time I was so frustrated with my project I wanted to yell, or how about when I wondered the difference between bias tape and hem tape.  I have these crafty thoughts that I want to share and 9 times out of 10 I share them with no one but my husband.  Facebook may seem like an obvious choice but most of my friends probably don't care that I just ran out of thread and can't finish this project, or that I had barely enough bias tape or I'm bleeding from yet another pin related accident.  You however take the time to read my blog and see what I'm creating, I think of you when I start a project, hoping you'll like what I've done, I want you to join me not just at the reveal of each project but the little moments through out.

I've started a Twitter account and I'd love if you'd follow me, let create something beautiful together.

Dyeing Fabric

This project made me nervous, it's something I'd never done before.

I wanted a nice heavy duty fabric in plain black for a project we'll talk about tomorrow.  The only thing I could find was some heavy canvass but it looked like this.

I didn't want to wait around and try to find something so I figured I'd dye the fabric black.  I'd never done this before before but I'd read about it.  I knew trying to get a deep black might not happen so I was prepared for a light grey.

I washed my fabric and then I took this bottle

I filled my sink with hot water (I didn't want to use the washing machine because it's a front load and I rent) and dumped in the entire contents of the bottle.  I should have only need half but it said for dark colours double the quantity.  Scary looking hey?

I added my fabric and let it soak while I stirred and agitated for 40 minutes.

Looing good hey?

 When the 40 minutes was up I rinsed it really well and then washed and dried it.

The end result was not bad.  It sort of looks like an old black t-shirt, kind of faded.  For this project that'll be just fine but I think if I dyed it one more time I'd get an even better colour.

I would dye fabric again though, it wasn't as scary as I thought.

This post was long enough so come back tomorrow to see what I use the fabric for.

A Menu Board & Hand Stamped Jewllery

Now that Christmas is over I can share two of the gifts that I made and was pleased with.

They both went to the same person, the first was a menu board.  I made one for me here, but I wanted this one to be a lot nicer so I had some vinyl made up and I pressed that onto the inside of the glass so when you're wiping you won't need to worry about wiping over the letters.

I think it turned out really cute and the sharpie is fancy, you click the top and the pen comes out, like a ballpoint.  No need to worry about replacing the cap.

The second gift is this hand stamped necklace.

The initials are for her daughter and it turned out so cute with the square disc behind, thanks KD for making it happen.  I love it so much I'm making one for me soon.

Project List

This post is really just for me.  I'm still away from home but I was starting to think about my upcoming project list.  I don't want to forget anything so I'm going to post it here, I can transfer it to my project board when I get home after new year's.

1. Mandy's Car Seat Re-Cover
2. Carla's High Chair Re-Cover
3. Jody's Bassinett Re-Cover
4. Faux Chenille Blanket
5. Bouncy Chair Re-Covers
6. Onesie appliques

For now that's all I can think of but I may add more as they come to me.  I'm excited for all of these projects and wish I could start on them RIGHT NOW.

Chaps

That's right, I said chaps.  This project was certainly a different one for me, I've never worked with leather.

My brother is making these chaps, and you should be amazed to know that every stitch in the picture below was sewn by hand.

My part in this project was actually really small, he wanted a fringe sewn onto each leg but he either lacks the sewing machine or a strong enough machine to handle the job (I'm not sure which) so he handed them to me.  I felt confidant that if my sewing machine can handle car seats and strollers it could handle chaps.  I picked up a leather needle and some heavy duty thread and sewed them on.  It wasn't quite as smooth as that and I learned that sewing with leather is no fun but the job got done and the difference is amazing, they look so good now.

The chaps don't have all the buckles yet, they still need the ones to attach around the leg but I did my best to show you what they'll look like when finished.

No Apologies

Just about every blog I read does the same thing, they post a photo of a project and apologize about the quality of their photography.  Every time I think, "I didn't really think the photo was that bad".  I've started to wish that people would stop apologizing about the quality of their pictures because I just don't care.  I want to see what they made, they're not a photographer and I understand that, I just want to see the awesome thing they created.  It's really that handful of amazing photographers that make us all wish we were better but we get better by experience.

Despite these thoughts I find I do exactly the same thing.  I have a very simple point and shoot camera and I'm a crummy photographer but hopefully you don't care.  I hope that you can interpret what the picture shows and see past the bad photography.

From here on out you'll get no more apologies out of me and I urge you to do the same.

Photo Album Embellishment

I went to a craft fair today.  It's something very new.

I'm not sure I'll do another but I'm glad I went.  I took my little girl's necklaces and a few other accessories but I'll post about those later.

I had also decided I wanted a photo album to show some of the before and after jobs I've done re-covering items so I could maybe get a few jobs.  I left this part until pretty last minute so when I went to London Drugs to print my photos I grabbed this book.  It was a great size, 5x7 and I liked everything about it except the word family.

I made some quick little rosettes and glued them on, much better hey?

I actually wanted black and I've been surprised just how many times I've regretted giving Michelle the last of my black broad cloth.  I used what I had on hand and Michelle better appreciate that scrap of fabric :)

This book was a big success and TONS of people were interested, we'll just have to see if any of them pan out.

Alarm Clock

Let me tell you about some of the features on my awesome alarm clock.  When you set the time you can either go slow, fast, forward or backward.  So if you miss the right time by two minutes it's no big deal, you just go back two minutes.  It has a flashlight!  It also has a nightlight.  It's a very cool alarm clock.

Let me tell you the downsides of this alarm clock, the flashlight has been broken for longer than it worked, I've had it since I think I was 8 years old but most importantly this awesome alarm clock is broken.  I sort of thought we just had shoddy wiring because it had started to flash often, I just thought the power went out a lot.  Eventually it wouldn't stop flashing no matter how many times you set it, also the minute changed every second.

Brad was thrilled that we no longer needed to use the ugly beast.  If you look close you can see the clear packing tape holding the broken flashlight on.  Not pictured here is the glow in the dark star on the right, I can't even remember when I put it on.


We now have a clock with even cooler features.  Get this, it sets itself!  You plug it in and tell it your time zone and you're good to go.  So if the power goes out it's no big deal, my clock sets itself once it comes back on.  It also tells me the temperature in the room and the time.  My favorite though is that it projects the time onto the ceiling.  Very nice when you wake at 3 am and can barely crack open an eye, look at the ceiling and roll over back to sleep.  It does have one downfall, the face of the clock is crazy bright but we figure we'll just get used to it.

Family Photos

We picked up these photos a week ago but I'd forgotten to post some of them so I thought I'd share my favorites.

Good looking family hey?

These beautiful pictures were taken by the super talented Karen, if you live in the Calgary area you should have her take photos of you. Visit her website here.

Shoes!

I'm fairly certain these are the most adorable little shoes I've ever seen!

** Sorry, I should have been more clear... click on the picture to be taken to Sewing With Me's Etsy shop**

Catie's a little too big for these types of cloth shoes so I can't justify the purchase, even if it is only $4.50.  So if anyone else loves them and wants a pair for their little girl I'd love to make them for you, you buy the pattern I'll do the rest.

Projects on Hold

I know there hasn't been much going on here except for necklaces, I'm sure those are getting boring but my sewing machine is in for servicing (not broken, I had a coupon for free maintenance) so the three projects that use it are on hold.  I'm also working on 3 BIG (for me) projects.  They are all a lot of work and a lot of time without a lot of blog posts.  One of them involves the door (finally), and one of them involves paint that I ran out of and am having a hard time finding more of, they all seem to involve endless amounts of priming.  A trip to Calgary this weekend should fix the paint problem and get the door really started.  Hopefully I'll have some real results and some really exciting posts to share with you next week.  Until then you can probably expect some more boring necklaces, it's really the only craft I can do at night now.

If your anything like me you never tire of a new Catie picture so here you go.

Facelift

Changing the look of a blog is painful.  I know very little about HTML, thankfully Brad knows slightly more.  We muddled through, using This Thrifty House as our really basic template (I love the look of hers, imitation is flattery right?).

There are some obvious problems, like pictures overlapping but we'll get to that.  For now we have an updated look that's at least slightly better than the last one.

Enjoy and keep your eyes peeled for small updates in the future.

Twighlight = Girl Crack

I haven't seen Twighlight, I haven't read the books.  The above description came from a friend who has read and seen them.  Girl Crack, it seems to be a perfectly fitting description.

I can understand tween girls love for Twilight, I get that, it's who the books were written for.  But when women my age are in love with Twilight and think Taylor is HOT, that I just don't get.  Mommy bloggers creating designs for t-shirts and the like, this stuff just surprises me.

For now I'll skip the addiction, you go ahead and watch it again for me.
L

I Have a Dream

I have a goal.  I want my blog to be viewed by every state in the US.

Before you think I'm crazy take a look at this map.

The darker the colour the more visits I've got (thanks Jen and Kim for making Utah and New York so populated).  As you can see there are only three white states meaning I have zero visits from that area.  So if you happen to be in Mississippi, Wyoming or Delaware, do me a favour and check me out.

Perhaps once I've conquered the US I'll take on the world.

Question:  Who reads my blog in Russia?