Craft room update!

Check out my Nest page. I've posted pictures of my craft room. I finally got around to taking the rest of the office equipment out and rearranging the room to fit my needs better. I love it! Of course like most of us crazy crafters/home decorators, I'm sure I will find some things that need some tweaking and shuffling about. Anyways, go on...click on over!

Really.

Click over.

You know you want to.

My touches of spring

I'm feeling like a lot of people out there, a nice little spring in my step with all the sunny weather that's been going on. Hubby and I have been getting ready for our City wide Spring Cleanup and can't wait for tomorrow morning to haul all the junk out to the curb and be rid of it once and for all. With all the icky junk we don't want going away, I felt like I needed to update the seasonal theme as well. So, here are some touches of spring I have added to the house. I love them all and makes me feel bright and cheery!

I really like the look of fresh fruit. Too bad these aren't actually fresh...or real. Yup, they are fakes, but they are good fakes. And in this house, fresh goes bad to quickly and I wanted these to last the season. So far everyone that has come over and seen them, has been fooled.
Opps, I guess no one else will be now. : )

I found this little guy just recently at Savers. I couldn't resist his "come feed me" look.
I did.
With some Jelly Beans for spring.
But wouldn't he look cute filled with some bird seed, or sunflower seeds?

I decided I needed to freshen up my dinning room buffet as well. I love that I can "shop the house" as they have coined out in blogland, and have a whole new look!

And can anyone find the "what happened here" item in the picture above? I didn't even notice until I uploaded these...can you find it?

I love the blues and yellows in this, it makes me feel very beachy with little pops of flowers here and there. Yes, there is a little red tin, but I had just ran across my little set of cookie cutters and wanted to display them. When I say little, I really mean mini. I'll have to snap a shot of those soon. We bought those out in Florida on our trip to the Winter Music Conference a few years back. We ran across a very random flea market and found those little gems.
FYI, if you haven't found it yet, it's the blue metal shelf. The scallop edging has decided to come apart from the flat shelf part. Gorilla Glue to the rescue!

I kept seeing this darling little bird all over blog posts, with lots of crafty ladies painting and distressing them. One I even saw made it look like Mercury glass, super cool! (If that was you, I'm sorry I can't remember where I saw it, but speak up and I'll be more then happy to post where I found it.) I finally found them at my Dollar Store and feel in love with him just the way he is. I thought he should be protected in a nice little glass cage.

Isn't he handsome?
What's that you say?
He's too big for the cage?
Non-sense.
I have him trained to sit all day and look like he's pondering why he's not IN the cage and some books, a picture, a glass starfish and some wicker balls that clearly CAN'T fly are in the cage. That's how good I am.
Found him at Ross, btw, 4.99.
Yup.
I'm outta my mind! Haha!

So there you have it. My bits and pieces of spring are finally starting to emerge not only outside, but inside as well. Makes me feel good. : )

~nic

For sale?

Hey there!
I think the family is finally all done being sick. Maybe we all caught something after we hauled all our unwanted crap outside last Saturday for our big family garage sale. That was fun! It turned into a nice little family gathering with a surprise visit by one of my nephews. I always like having garage sales because people feel the urge to tell you the most random stories. Maybe because they are peering into your world just a smidge, buying all your old memories. Hopefully taking your stuff and building more memories with them.

Anyways, after the sale I sent little man and TALL boy out on their bikes to collect the sale signs.
This is what came home:

Yup, came riding up the street with all the signs taped to himself.
(That's TALL boy, my nephew, by the way.
You can't tell because he's kneeling, but TALL boy is over 6 feet.)

Now I can't wait for this weekend! Our community Spring Clean Up project has started and our weekend is this one!
YES!
I love spring!
Do you?

I dunno...

I came home to find this:
(Did I not just post about him wanting to be more manly?)

Yes, that is my pink Snuggie.

Will he kill me for posting these?
Maybe.
(If I come up missing, look in the fireplace, he always claims to stuff people in there.)


Isn't he as handsome as ever, not feeling well and wrapped in a pink Snuggie?
YES!
I love you my Darling Prince!
(or should I say I love you my darling f#$@face?)

~nic

Proud mama!

On Saturday night we went out on a family date night. It was awesome! At my local Starbucks, I ran across a flier earlier in the week on their "share" board and knew we had to go. It was local, San Jose Civic Auditorium, and fairly inexpensive ($20 a person) which made it that much better. Where did we go, you ask? We went to Battle Fest Live 360!
As Justin says, "Sick!"
It was!

Battle Fest Live 360 was an exhibition of local HipHop/Dance crews. It was actually held over a couple of days with dance classes you could sign up for. But the last day, which was Saturday night, was the exhibition and competition. It was 4 hours long but didn't even seem like it. The dance crews were amazing and the music was banging!

There was a short 15 minute intermission at the two hour mark. That's when things got REALLY good! Of course some people headed to the bathrooms and concessions, but some of the dancers started to freestyle out on the dance floor. Pretty soon, a small circle had formed and anyone left in the stands naturally started to watch.
As we did.
Until, Justin looked over at dad and said, "I want to go down there."

Off they went.

I was expecting to see them emerge from a certain area in the auditorium, but when all of a sudden a little blue plaid fedora popped out from the rim of the circle and into the middle of it, I was up out of my seat as fast as my body would move. I grabbed the Flip Video and started videoing. The crowd did a couple cheers when he busted out his signature moves. Around me, in the stands, I did hear one couple say, "Who is that little boy?" I so wanted to turn around and say, "THAT'S MY BOY!!" But I didn't, I kept that video poised and focused. I couldn't believe the guts on my little one, he blew me away!

After, when we were just watching the rest of the performers, a few random dancers and audience members spotted Justin and told him what a great job he did. I was beaming!

I bet you are all dying to see the video!? As we are, too. Alas, in my haste to make "Mom of the Year Award" for capturing the most exciting moment in Justin's life so far (okay, maybe a bit dramatic... ) I did not hit the start button.
Yea.
I know.
Don't go there.
: )

Fowler Update

When my hubby graduated from High School ('91), a close family friend (Thank you Dorothy!) gave him this wonderful hand painted sign of our last name. And in case you were wondering, yes, I was there when he received it.

At the time, my mom and I took it and immediately had it mated and framed. Mind you, it was 1991. Hence, the lovely colors.

Hubby and I proudly hung it in our first little place. This I know because my mom just ran across some old pictures of our first "apartment". I put apartment in quotes, because it was really two rooms and a bathroom built into half of my parents garage. I LOVE them! But I digress.

After moving two more times before this house, the frame eventually got put into our stock pile of "wanted-but-can't-use-it-right-now" items. It sat there for a good couple of years, to tell you truth, I really can't remember the last time we had it hung.
Not anymore.

A little DIY cleaning and sanding, some black spray paint and this baby was ready for a new home.

New and Improved!

I love the look that painting both the mat and frame black gave to it, made it look like a nice chunky frame, instead of the thin 90's frame it is.

Here it is in it's new home.

Wha'dya think? : )

~nic

Got Vinyl?

So I've noticed a trend out here in blog land.
Vinyl.
Vinyl letters cut with Cricut machines.
It occurred to me, I have both items.
In fact, I have the original Cricut and my mom has both the original and the Expressions.
I have vinyl.
TONS of vinyl.
Why won't mine work?
Here's my vinyl:

Here's more vinyl:

Here, I'll show you what I'm doing, maybe you can help.
I'll choose this one:

I know my Cricut works, and I know this is Quality Vinyl, why won't it fit?

I even went down the street (yes, my mom and dad live two blocks down), to see if it would work in the Expressions.
I got this:

Am I doing something wrong?

Hehe!

~nic