Where Is Mine?!

At midnight the final blow of get out of the military struck me.  I no longer am a ID card holder.  When Jason was kicked out we were giving transitional ID cards for two years.  I guess in that two year time I was suppose to transition into someone I have not been for most of my life.  I feel like this is that final kick in the teeth for me.  My brain has been screaming off and on since it happened "I am not the one that failed!".  I did my job!  I have been a supportive Air Force spouse to two men.  I sat before a commander being told that if the military wanted him to have a family he would be issued one,  been looked down at for being a dependent.  "Oh your a wife" I have been told with a air of being nothing important and a waste.  I have moved and moved and moved.  I have birthed three children in the military and raised all four of them to respect this country and our symbols and our traditions.  Since they could stand they knew to stop and put their hand over their heart when the National Anthem comes on.  I have ironed uniform after uniform and sewed patch and striped onto uniforms.  I dressed appropriately as not to embarrass my husband or the military.  I sent both of my men to war and in fact am a war bride to one.  I waited and waited and waited for phone calls and letters and emails.  I was never first or even second.  I volunteered!  Team Mom, Room Mom, Sunday School Teacher, Chairperson to this committee and that, Cub Scout leader, Youth Bowling leagues.  And only once did I have to call a shirt to ask for my husband home when I was hospitalized after the doctor threatened to send the SP's to pick me up, oh and that did not sit well with my husband.  I tried to handle each avenue of military life with dignity and grace.  I have baked and sent care packages all over this world so my husband and his freinds knew they were loved and appreciated.  Don't get me wrong I am no angel or even a martyr.  I have throw my share of fits and threatened to go to the commander when my husband was told it was in the best interest of another Airmen for him to deploy.  But then I put on my big girl pants and started packing his bags.

When a man retires finally the spouse is recognized.  I have proudly sat and watched freind after freind finally get her certificate of thanks and heard words to express her sacrifice.  Where is mine?!  Did I not do what I was suppose to do?  Korea?  Deployments?  Military stress on the family?  Living pay check to pay check?  Eating Ramen so my child could have the last hot dog in the fridge?  Where did I fail?

Boooo!!!

It is that time of the year.  Time to gear up and get ready for the big holiday rush time.  Each year to start off the rush is the fleece ghost poncho.  I love this and do love making it.  It is my highest seller on etsy and one of the reasons I keep my etsy store open...LOL.

Finally motavated! For now......

Well....here we are almost a month later, one left rotator cuff tear, back spasms and attention to some other parts of the apartment.  I finally walked into my studio/office/guest room with the determination of David ready to slay Goliath!  I have a show in a week and I am no where ready for it so its time to get back to work.  Four hours later this is what we have.

I have found a great site to make collages and love them!

Yes is was still a mess but I love the outcome!  I love when I envision something and it actually works!

Now Day 2.  Nothing to really move furniture wise but allot to do still.  Several hours and here we are.

The futon still needs help but look how much better my work area looks and how cute my collage is.  LOL!  I feel ready to work and now have the space.

Stuck!

I am stuck!  I mean like standing in honey.  Not for real.  That stuff is to expensive to spill!!!  For a couple of months now Jason and I have been sleeping in my studio while our master bedroom was a store house for boxes.  Finally in one huge push and three days of unpacking and not much else we were able to get our bedroom somewhat set up and move in.  With that being said the futon is back against the wall and I am ready to get to work.

Yea about that.  I walk into my studio/office/guest room and this is what greets me. 

Why am I sitting here blogging about this nightmare?  Why am I in the dining room and not doing something about it?  For one the dining room is a bit less cluttered.  And for two this is my way of getting me motivated.  I thought if I could start with the horror that is the beginning and then update as I go it would keep me motivated. 

Anyone have a nightmare like this?

Camera Straps, Pillow Covers and Luggage Tags. Is this a vacation?

Today was a busy day here in Washington.  Yes, Washington!  Puyallup, Washington to be exact.  Isabella and I are once again spending three glorious weeks with The Keaton's, or as Isabella calls them Uncle Mike and Aunt Michelle.

As always Michelle has a project for me.  Most people would not be happy if they put their business on vacation and then sat behind a sewing machine but I am not most people.  Shush you!!  Yes you!! As I was saying, Michelle had a project for me.  She has a very heavy camera and needed a cover for it and something to hold her lens cap also.  Sooooooo google camera strap covers I go and here is what I made. 

We choose minky for the back fabric so it would be more comfortable.  It was my first time sewing on minky and it was slippery and the dots in the fabric weren't very nice to me.  But I am please with the finished product and think I have figured out some of the mistakes.  I know a photog friend that I adore that might just need one of these.  As always a huge shout out to Tiffany Bird of Simply Modern Mom for her tut.  You can get it here.

The next project was making pillow covers for a updated game room.  In the past this room has been patriotic but since Madison is a fan of zebra and her practice dance floor is here Michelle choose to do a Zebra print with some hot pink accents.  Michelle choose a zebra fleece with hot pink hearts and peace signs.  I know fleece would not the be the traditional fabric for pillow covers but oh it is soooo soft.  I haven't gotten a pix of them yet.  They are being used at the moment in another room.

Finally a little something for me.  I meant to do this before I left but time got away from me.  I needed some luggage tags.  Printables here we come!!  I found these really cute ones from Amy Locurto at Living Locurto and printed them out, put my name and phone number on the back and then laminated them.  I just need to punch a hole in them and put them on my luggage.  I did two sets, one for the outside of the luggage so I can see which black suitcase is mine and one for the inside cause I once heard that the reason luggage gets lost is the outside tag gets ripped off and there is nothing inside to tell who the person is.  Nice run on sentence!  Want them....tough they are not yours as the tag says!  Oh wait they technically are not mine either so here you go... luggage tags

This more than likely will be the last of my vacation projects since tomorrow we go see the Mariners play baseball and then back to the Vegas heat the next day.

Kitchen Labels

This is how my days have been lately.  Open box, unwrap each item, roll my eyes at something, put packing paper back in box, take box to patio for someone to pick up, now figure out what to do with what I just unpacked.  UGH! 

Right now I am unpacking the kitchen.  I thought I could get away with just shoving stuff in the cabinets and deal with it later but my CDO will not allow that!  Sooo lets organize a bit.  I am transfering all the baking items into similar containers, no more random containers.  Of course I HAVE to label them so I know what is in each. Usually I would get out of my trusty label maker, but OH WAIT!!  Printables!!! So off to the laptop I run to look thru the hundreds of printables I have downloaded and TADA!  Print, cut out and stick.  What do you think?

I have blank ones too.  Those will have to wait till I get a white pen.

If you like these you can find them here. 

Post-it Cra Cra!!

I love Post-its!!!  You can stick them to any surface and they make them is such cute styles and colors these days.  I love finding them in the Dollar Tree.  The other day while lost in the land of printables I found someone who shared my love, Mayi Carles from heartmade.    On her site I found this great way to organize my notes and to do list. 

Right now it is hanging on the mirrored sliding door from the closet in my studio/office.  Like a post it I am sure I will move it.  I love that I can move the notes around as my crazy life deems necessary.

Do you like the posts its?  Got them from her site too!

All you do is down load the template and print it then attach blank postits to the sheet and print it again.  Cute huh?

Find the daily Post-It prioritizer here and the Post-It here.  Check out her whole blog.  It is full of amazing things.