We Suck.

Yes, we suck at blogging. Holy crap, hallelujah, where have we been?! Well since I last posted in MARCH a lot has happened. Biggest thing- we got married! Woot, May 18 was the Big Day :)! I will try and post wedding pictures soon, I promise!! Second biggest thing-- I got a "big girl" job! Starting in a couple of weeks I will be teaching kindergarten with Santee Community Schools! I am so excited to begin and will be posting a tour of my lair/classroom soon! Supper just came out of the oven so I have to scram but I promise to be back soon with more pictures.

New Toy!!!

Exciting News!! I got my Silhouette Cameo this past Monday (ordered it on Friday-- Thanks Amazon Prime!) :) After having a Cricut Expression for 3 years, I am so happy to have upgraded to the Cameo. My Cricut was great for what I needed and I plan to keep it (to stash in my classroom), but the Cameo is exponentially better in my opinion.

I quickly sewed a dust cover for my Silhouette while I was waiting for it to arrive Monday. 

***1st- I LOVE that I can cut any font that I have on my computer (I have downloaded tons and tons of fonts).
***2nd- I appreciate that you can buy single images for $.99 and sometimes cheaper. I feel like I bought so many Cricut Cartridges for just one or two images. With the Silhouette Online Store you can purchase a subscription for a set amount a month and get way much more back in credit. For example, I did the $15/month and I get $50 worth of credit, however, being the cheapskate that I am I searched for coupon codes and got one so it's now only $12/month and I still get $50 of credit. BOOM!
***3rd- The Silhouette can cut detailed images like no other. Some of the stuff I have already done, I would have never dared to try on the Cricut.
***4th- You can seriously cut just about anything. I found an image online that I wanted to cut so I just imported it into the software and used the trace option and bam! I was able to cut it out in vinyl.

This week I worked on making Easter baskets for Sean's nephews. (Best Aunt and Uncle ever?! Yes!) I seriously love Dollar Tree, lately. They have some really cute baskets/tubs/buckets that work great for organizing, making gift baskets, etc. and they come in super cute colors.

Basket/Bucket Before

After a little vinyl!

Basket/Bucket Before (if anyone has any good ideas what to put in plastic eggs besides candy & something acceptable for an 11 month & 20 day year old (prob just socks), let me know!!)

Basket After :) I love the light blue color 

 Sippy Cup Before

Sippy Cup After

Water bottle that I got a Dollar Tree that I jazzed up with vinyl

A Year Worth of House Updates in a Blog Post

This initial goal of this blog was to show our friends and family what we have been up to and our house project updates... let's be honest, that didn't quite happen. Now this blog is a combination of our life, house updates, my projects, and whatever else comes to mind. Sorry if I bore you but what else can you do in South Dakota when its butt-cold-freezing and you don't have to work this week. So I thought I would try to find some before and after house pictures and put some pictures of what the house is looking like now. You know it's bad when you and your fiancé spend your Saturdays at Mendards dreaming up projects for a house.

House Before Exterior Paint (Woof-Diggity)

 House After Exterior Paint (and 7 stitches in my toe; that's another story)

Here are some interior before and after photos. Sorry for the poor quality in some of the pictures (hint hint, Sean, new camera?!)

Living Room Before

Living Room After

Basement Before (check the ugly fireplace)

Basement After (check the awesome fire place)

Isn't that truck neat? It was my great-grandfather's that he brought with him to America from Sweden in 1912. It still has the White Star Line stickers on the side. 

Fire Place Process

I am so lucky my dad and Sean are so handy; they did the whole renovation themselves! 

Misc. Finished Areas of the House

Breakfast Nook

Chalkboard I made for Sean's Husker (gag) room

Who's a great fiancé? I got Sean an autographed photo of Rex Burkhead. 

My craft room. I need an updated picture that shows the whole space. I was so lucky that my parent's had put new countertops in their kitchen this spring so my dad made me a workbench with the countertop from their island. 

Clark Griswold putting up Christmas Lights in shorts. 

House Divided. (Go State!)

 

Soup Can Up-Cycle

So yesterday was freezing cold and I didn't feel like going out and doing much so I worked on stuff around the house. Since it was a chilly day, I decided to have grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch. When I was cleaning the soup can out, I thought, "I can do something with this," so I did. This is what I ended up doing.

As I was midway taping the can, I thought I should take pictures as I go for a tutorial. So here is the tutorial...

1.) First things first, you need a can or some sort of vessel to put tape on. (I'm thinking about doing the same thing to a wire pencil holder that I use to throw my thread scraps in as I sew). I will say, I think cans will work best because they are a straight cylinder and are not graduated. 

2.) Clean your can. I washed mine out with water and then poured some water and white vinegar in it and let it set for awhile (to get the soup smell out). 

3.) Gather up all your washi tape or decorative tape and just start taping around the can. 

4.) Your can may not be the perfect height to evenly fit all your rows of washi tape so you may have to trim the last piece down or do what I did. I taped the last piece and there was some overhang, so I went around and snipped around the overhang (snip in towards the can). Then it is much easier to fold the tape over the bottom and it doesn't create folds. The picture does the explanation more justice. 

5.) You're Done!! You can add some embellishments to jazz up your can. I used a sentiment from a Unity Stamp Co. Stamp of the Week (week 38).   

This was a fun little project that really didn't cost me anything, since I had it all on hand. And it takes like 5 minutes, maybe, to create. 

I also created this set of coasters for summer to match our deck furniture. I think they'll be perfect to set a nice cool beverage on come summer. I just used washi tape and Unity Stamp Co. Stamp of the Week (week 25). I stamped onto thin computer paper and then used Mod Podge to adhere it and seal it to cheap 12 cent tiles. (I like that the computer paper gives it a tissue paper appearance because its so thin).