Holly, you changed my life!

Cross stitching...
 So Holly was the initiator of my new obsession with cross- stitching. I found these  ornaments at a yard sale and did each of them in like a day. I can't get enough of this hobby. It's also a great one to do with friends and on road trips and on planes. I'm also doing a big complex one but you have to wait to see that one.

See what I have already done here

I love this! Yay cross-stitch.

Celebration Card

This week I chose a pin from my craft board. I didn't want to do anything too fancy cause I was feeling a bit lazy. I had pinned this card and it looked pretty simple. I just tried to copy the picture with what I had. I found some scrapbook paper that I thought was cute and went to work, while watching Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone! It's one of my favorite of the HP movies. 

So here is the final project compared to the original one. I must say, I did pretty good.  And Pinterest is a lot more fun and meaningful when you actually use what you pin! Until next week and next pin...maybe i'll cook something...

Africa Scrapbook!

It's been two years since I gave my heart to Africa. Finally I am doing the Scrapbook I planned. 5 pages done so far. Now I need to print more pictures! This is my work space. I took over Margaret's room while she was in Utah.

These are the first five pages that I have done.  Starts with the front page and ends with leaving South Africa!

I still have like 40 more pages but I love it! I love looking at the pictures, and reading my journal, and remembering the best time in my life! I miss and love Africa!

Necklace holder thing...It's really cute!

This weekend my nursing friends, Karissa and Laura, and I were crafty. We got the idea off of pinterest. It's a necklace holder. We covered a piece of wood with padding and fabric. Then we glued craft flowers on and screwed hooks into the bottom.

Here's the final products!

 It was so much fun to hangout and be crafty! We want to do things like this on a regular basis. My new necklace/jewelry holder looks so good on my wall! I love it! Can't wait for the next project!

xxBabyxxCrossxxStitchxx

I found a counted cross-stitch kit at DI for $1 and I loved it. It's my first real counted cross-stitch project. I finished it in like 2 weeks...probably a total of 10 hours. I am really getting into this craft. Thanks Faith and Holly! Cross-stitching is wonderful cause you get to watch your picture grow. Here is this last project growing.

 My cousin Ryan and his wife Cherry just had a baby. His name is Rad and he is super cute. I thought that this project would be a perfect gift for him. He is adorable! We are friends!

Me & Baby Rad!

xxxCROSSxxxxSTITCHINGxxxxxxxx

With no school, I have a lot of time on my hands and what better way to spend that time than doing crafts? So Faith and Holly cross stitch. Holly got Ashlee and I to start cross stitching. We started with something simple. It's a Christmas ornament, but I turned it into a magnet. I haven't cross stitched since I was 8 and I couldn't remember anything about how to do it.  Holly and Faith are watching over us as we learn and we watch Jane Austen while we stitch. I can't wait to start the next project!

1st Quilt

My mother is a quilter. I have so many memories of her quilting and all the girls hanging out in her quilt room chatting and having a good time. All my sisters have made quilts.  I finally caught up and made my first quilt.

So I have been making this quilt for a long time. I started it before nursing school and then nursing school happened. I am now graduated and I finished it! I did a simple pattern using strips of 1930s inspired fabric and then added sashing around the sections. It was a fairly easy quilt, which is good cause it's my first. This is my mom's long arm quilting machine that does the work for you.  Click here for her quilt blog! It quilts whatever pattern you want. Just load the pattern on the computer and click start! The quilts come out looking professionally made. I did the Young Womens logo as my pattern.

The end product was wonderful and cozy!! It feels victorious when you finish a project! Can't wait to do more! Plus, I love learning from my mother. She is the most creative woman I know and I love that she helps me develop my own creativity. She's the best! 

I love you mom! And Happy Mother's Day!

Jewelry & Shoes, YAY!

I forgot to blog about this, but when my sister was here from VA we beaded and made jewelry. This is what I made. The earrings were my sister, Steph's idea! She made an identical set for herself.

I went thrift store shopping with Ashlee this week and she found me these great shoes. I really like them and they were only $5 and in very decent shape. They look awesome! I love shoes!!!

I'm pretty sure I was a foot model in another life! :)

P.S. There is rain in AZ! Love it!

Flowers, Flowers, Flowers...

Miss Heather Oliphant, a friend of Margaret and myself, came over and watched a few movies and taught us and Jeani (sister-in-law) how to make these fabric flowers. I turned a few into hair clips and the others will become something else.

Heather makes a bunch of these type of flowers and she has a website where she shows them off! They are really cute!

We had so much fun making them and it doesn't require a lot of fabric. We used scraps that my mom had left over from her quilts. These flowers are great for little girls and easy to make. Maybe when I go out East I'll show my nieces how to make them!

Also, when I was helping my mom clean her laundry room I found a bunch of antique buttons and things and my mom gave me this one. She thinks it was her grandmother's. I'm hoping to make it into a necklace or something, so look forward to seeing it again!

Also again, this week is the one year anniversary of my amazing adventure to AFRICA! July 14th last year with a group of 8 girls I ventured off to Mozambique for some life-changing volunteer work! This is one of my favorite pictures and one of the firsts that I took in Moz! This week there will be something about Africa in each post!

Christmas in July & other things..

Merry Christmas in July! My Mom at one of her Relief Society nights got a kit for a Christmas magnet board. It was a few years ago and I don't remember who made the kit, but thank you whoever you are. Mom gave the kit to me and I was in a very crafty mood. This is what I made:

I really really love Christmas! I usually start listening to Christmas music in August because I just can't wait for it to come around.

I made each individual magnet for all the 25 days of Christmas. Each magnet has its own special something and I had so much fun with each one!

I didn't do it exactly as the kit showed. I made it my own. The entire time that I was crafting, I was singing carols in my head and getting excited for the holidays. Only 5 more months!

The snowman magnet was all my idea! The other magnets I just modified the original idea, but there was a design missing so I made one up myself! I think it's adorable!!!

I really like my magnet board and can't wait to use it this Christmas!

So, I've been in a crafty mood all week and so was my sister Margaret! She used my Mom's "Cricut"which is a special machine that cuts cute words and pictures.

These are the ones that she helped me do! Cute, right?

Margaret will probably blog about the other cute ones that she made. So don't forget to check them out at her blog! margaretsmakings.blogspot.com

Just gotta ask yourself, "Do I feel crafty?"

P.S. Happy birthday to my beautiful sister-in-law Tori!