Pinterest inspiring quotes

Now, I don't usually do lots of pinterest based posts, but because I have been short on crafting time as of late, I thought I'd do one that is near and dear to my heart.... QUOTES!!!

I am a huge quote hoarder (yep, add it to the list kids) and so I am going to show off a few of my faves out there on my pinterest boards. (username: j0dalee  - come follow along)

(here)

 

(here)

 

(quotable magnets)

 

 

(here)

 

Anyone know what book this is from?? :)

(here)

 

(here)

 

(here)

 

(here)

 

(here)

 

 

 

And I could go on and on and on and on and... well you get the point. Like I said I am a hoarder of quotes and this too goes back a long long way. Maybe I will make this a regular thing, what do you all wonderful followers think??

 

I think it would be a fun mix up for this little blog and just delves a little deeper into who I am. I think quotes and song lyrics really can describe most any situation we encounter in life and can help us express ourselves.. when we are at a loss for words.

 

Happy Thursday.. we are almost there :)

 

 

Diy burlap coffee jar

Hello and happy Monday everyone :)


I hope you all had a great weekend. Although mine went way too fast (as usual) it was nice to have plans and also have some decent down time. In addition to running Saturday morning, I went to a friends 31 and pampered chef party. When I got home, hubby wanted to do pizza hut for dinner. This isn't something we do too often so it tasted soooo good. Sunday was some household chores and relaxation time. We rented two redbox movies, the Alex Cross movie (I have no idea what its really called) and FLIGHT with Denzel Washington. Both good in different ways.


Anyway, are you all ready to see my Sunday afternoon craft project and how-to??

Isn't it so cute?? It was so super easy to make and although my poor cricut wouldn't turn on to play like I planned (gasp, I hope it isn't dead!!) it all worked out ok in the end.

So I started out with an old spaghetti sauce jar cleaned up, washed out and label taken off and some leftover burlap.

I cut my burlap to fit the majority of the flat portion of the jar. Once I was satisfied with it, I hopped on the computer and printed my word "Coffee" in a fun font.

I cut out the word so that I could tape it to the "wrong" side of my burlap and make sure it would land right where I wanted it to be.

After I got it situated I pulled out a painters pen, also from another project. I figured this would be much easier and neater than trying to mess with fabric paint. Because burlap has so many spaces, it is so easy to see right through and trace the letters (or any other pattern you wish).

See how easy it is to see through?

then you just trace



trace



and trace some more. Here, I decided to use the threading in the burlap to create a little dotted border around COFFEE.



Just. like. so.



I attached it on with good old hot glue and sat back to look at it. Too plain? Yep. Needs some color. I didn't have any ribbon handy that was the perfect fit so I hit up the fabric scraps.



I had this fabric from one of my fabric flower shenanigans and it worked so darn perfectly! (if I do say so...) I sprayed the lid black because, well, it just looked nicer than gold (soooo not a gold fan over here).





in it's new little home... brew is on!



... and there you have it. Happy day!

Some real-life inspiration

A few weeks ago, I was out and about and saw these super cute BUCKETS at Joann Fabrics. I snapped a little picture, posted to facebook asking where I might find small buckets to make my own and went on my merry little way.

These little guys were selling for something like $4 a piece, which I thought was kind of crazy, since the only thing I didn't already have at home was the buckets. Lucky me, I found some later that evening at Hobby Lobby. Seriously, for my first time there,  I did pretty awesome finding good stuff to craft with. So needless to say, they were 1.99 there and I had to grab up 3 so I can make a few of these cuties.

My next inspiration actually came from my older sister who lives in an area where they have this awesome TruValue store (which I have never gotten to explore yet) which carries the usual hardware stuff but also has some awesome country craft items. So I get this picture message which includes this fun piece of crafty love.

I immediately texted back "Is that a hint?" She told me no, but I have a feeling that she will be recieving one in some format from me, at some point in the future. The possibilities are endless with what type of base you could use (wine bottle, spaghetti sauce jar, hurricane glass..etc etc) and once again my clear love and bias toward burlap is showing through.

I haven't quite gotten to make either of these yet- but I have been training pretty hard for my LLS Team in Training run which you can read more about the process @ Tiny Thunder Running which I update pretty regularly with my workouts and runs etc. I have also been pretty busy getting everything together for my fundraising effots as well. I have added a widget in my side bar to make donating easy if you are able and willing to support me in this endevour.

 I will hopefully have time (seriously people!) to get some crafting and scrapping done Sunday. I do have a long run tomorrow morning and a dual 31/Pampered Chef party tomorrow afternoon but Sunday is WIDE open (as far as I know haha) and I really hope to get into a grove again.

Have a great weekend!!

The wonders of washi

Many of you might know I have been in a bit of a craft slump. Well not really a slump- just not having the time and when I do I am too wiped out (my own down) to be creative and create.

The other weekend when I was babysitting and took the kiddos to Hobby Lobby, I found these fun cardboard letters of a decent size and they were only $2.47 a piece so I was pretty excited for the possibilities of a really cheap craft (for myself!!)

So here is what I started with- simply the letter and a fun pack of tape I had purchased back before the holidays because it spoke to me- but I didn't really quite have a purpose for it yet. Either way, I just knew I had to use it for this little project. To be fair, I'd rather have had something PURPLE or GREEN but hey, I have been a little more into pink lately, so why not!

I taped at an angle just to be a little complicated fun. You can't see it here, but (you will later) I taped up the edges all fun-like too. Now comes the fun part- which I didn't take pictures of- cutting off all the extra around the edges with my handy dandy cutter. I also put one coat of matte mod-podge and let it dry to give a nice seal and make sure the tape wasn't going anywhere.

I waited until this morning to take pictures in an effort to get a wonderful sunny sky and nice pictures. Well of course it was snowy and windy and cold. There was a little bit of sun but not for long. I was able to snap a few picture of the final product.

I think I will be making some more of these in the future for others. I need some cutting practice or a different blade maybe. I do love the overall look of how it turned out though. I am really ready for spring and these bright colors in nature--- that's for darn sure :)

Taco Bowl Deliciousness (Tuesday)

Have you ever used these fun taco shell makers sold at Bed Bath and Beyond and other stores where AS SEEN ON TV stuff is sold? I tried to do the DIY version just using bowls, but apparently my sister and husband thought I deserved needed the real deal, and I got these for Christmas. I will admit they are quite delicious and the possibilities are endless.

The last time we had them I bought refried beans with green chiles in them to layer on the bottom, next came ground beef, some sour cream, cheese, and of course avocado and tomato. Just looking at this is making me want to make these again. The bowls are great because they aren't greasy like a tortilla taco bowl you would get out somewhere AND you could choose to use the whole grain or other type if you wanted to. I am the only one who would eat it, so we stuck with the regular ones.

What are your favorite Taco toppings??

Our valentines

First I must say that I am so sorry for being so scarce.. as usual I am trying to do too many things and wnat to do so much more and something always falls out of place.

Second, I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day! My husband got home around 10:30pm from work and we exchanged our little gifts and cards and spent some time together. We will have round two when we go out for dinner Sunday evening.

I made two little collages of our exchanges.

 Aren't my flowers amazing?!?!? I prefer gerber daisies over roses almost any day and hubby DONE GOOD :) I love the mix of flowers and the colors are just gorgeous. Ok, so really the man is color blind and told them I love purple... but seriously people. The vases in the stands just caught his eye when he went to pick up the flowers and he said he had to get them. We aren't sure what to do with them just yet, but we will work on it!

I finally got to do 3 things... glass etching, these awesome heart brownies from Yesterday on Tuesday. They looked so awesome that I had to make some for hubby, avid brownie lover. My third thing was that I FINALLY got to use a moustache pun. I found these at Hobby Lobby- also on my list of firsts... as I finally went to one last weekend. Hobby Lobby carries a pack of 4 or 5 different mustache brads in a pack for 3.99- AH.Mazing. I had to have them. I will share the glass etching process at a later date as I will probably end up redoing that cologne bottle up there because I was not so smart when I did it. The cologne is Mary Kay TRUE ORIGINAL and smells amazing, plus it comes in a really cool container.

Have a great weekend!! I hope to be back Monday with some posts for your guys and end my dissapearing act.

Wordless Wednesday, better late than never

Whirlwind weekend & a Valentines Tree

A few years ago, I responded to an ad on sittercity for a family who was looking for some help with their kids. Primarily 3 younger ones, 8, 6, and 4 but there were also 2 older kids that were in middle and high school as well who would be around. Long story short, now a few years later, the parents are divorced, dad just got remarried and is soon moving far away.

I still babysit intermittently for the mother and this has recently turned more regular since the father is moving out of the area and hasn't been consistent with communicating to the mother regarding keeping the kids on her drill weekends. I arrived at the home around 5am on Saturday because the mother has drill weekends once a month for the national guard. She gave me a quick summary of the hardships and craziness that had ensued in January. This made me all the more happy that I had a fun craft activity for the kiddos to make for their mom that they could surprise her with.

We first tried to make them Saturday evening but realized too late that what was in the cabinet was wheat flour and it just doesn't work the same. So Sunday morning we hit the project again and the kids helped cut out the shapes with fun cutters I bought at Walmart for a whopping $2.88. I normally hate going there, but hubby needed some things and we stopped in Friday.

A little shot of the first few cut out heart shapes. Aren't they cute with their little edges??

The kids worked really hard painting their salt-dough hearts for their mom. They also painted little birdhouses that the two younger kiddos picked out.

While they were drying, they worked on a card for their mom as well.

Sadly in the process, the older daughter had gone outside with the one family dog and had come back in to try and get her younger sister to come out and play with her. In the 2 minutes or so, she was inside the house, the dog had jumped the fence and got hit by a car. Thankfully, due to helpful neighbors who came over to inform us and also helped transport the dog to the vet I was able to get the kids in the car and follow behind.

The dog was still alive at this point and we brought a blanket out from the house to tuck under the dog and use as a stretcher to get him in the back of the neighbor's SUV. The dog attempted a few times to get up but his back legs just weren't allowing him to do so. Anyway, we got him to the vet, I called the mom to let her know what had happened and where we were. I felt completely terrible and sad for these kids and their mom. They had just put their older dog down a few weeks ago so the loss of that pet was still way too fresh in their minds and hearts.

Although I had been optimistic on the way to the vet, this was quickly crushed when within a minute of the vet checking out the dog's condition, he told us "oh thats not good, this is very bad." Basically the dog had a staircase break in the middle of his spine which equates to losing the ability to anything bowel related and to ever move his back legs. Over the course of about 25 minutes it because very clear the dog was getting ready to die and began to cry. We brought the kids in to say goodbye after the mom gave consent over the phone to put the dog to rest. I literally started to cry when I had to go out and tell the kids to come in and say goodbye to their dog. I just felt completely awful. They came in and said goodbye and we went ahead and went back to the house.

I had them all come back and continue work on their project for their mom both to help take their mind off a little and also something to be excited about to surprise their mom with. They did a great job hanging all the ornaments on the "tree" and wrote out little tags with nice statements on them (their idea!!)

When their mom got home, they covered her eyes and brought her into the dining room where all the surprises were. She was so surprised and really enjoyed and appreciated all the kids' hard work.

Needless to say, I was glad I squeezed in a 4.5 mile run in while the kids were at their church prep class rather than thinking I was going to go to the gym after I was done babysitting. I left their house around 8pm and til I threw some quick food in the oven for hubby and I, ate and got changed for bed, I was pretty much ready to pass out.

How did you get crafty this weekend??

Smash #2- our trip to PHILLY!!

I am back with some more smash-booking!! This time it focuses around our 2nd anniversary trip to Philadelphia. I didn't share our 1st anniversary because we didn't go on a trip persay, just to a local haunted house type thing @ Jason's Woods and had dinner at our reception site prior. No majorly fun momentos other than our tickets for the haunted stuff. Anyway, our 2nd year trip was also focused on some haunty stuff... this time at the Eastern State Penitentiary which is literally an old jail turned into a haunted experience. While neither of us were MAJORLY scared, it was pretty creepy knowing someone was so close to you that they could make a noise or sweep past you and scare the living you know what out of you.

 I found this hotel through hotwire and it was a major steal. Our room suite was pretty amazing. We had a living room, dining area, kitchenette, and separate bathroom from our bedroom. We were kinda bummed we only booked it for one night!! The reason we got such an awesome deal was by them hiding the names of the hotels- only giving the amount of stars and the general area the hotel was in. We took a chance and it worked out great (this time, more on that later).

 As you can see, I have a little pouch on the left hand side- I made it from the bag we recieved when we made our purchase- just some super creepy postcards with info about the history of Eastern State... and of course the map.

The really fun part is that while we waited in line, they took our picture :) You had the opportunity to BUY your pics on the way out and of course hubby knew I was going to want them and didn't even make me ask. I do have one of these inserted in the smashbook, but apparently forgot to take a picture. so you get this instead.

 The fun part about smashbooks are these fun pages that have (sometimes) crazy stuff printed on them. This time it worked out SO perfectly. Almost to the point of being SCARY (no pun intended). Seriously though, it gave me a great place to outline our favorites about the other place we visited- THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE. What really drew us there was the Mummies!! It was so neat to hear their stories.. or rather what part of history these mummies lives through and represent for their era. Lots of amazing things that we were not aware of. Aside from the mummies we did have great times in other areas of the museum and literally spent the WHOLE day there. There are so many other museums we want to visit in Philly and will definitely spent more time there soon!



Philly really IS more fun when you sleep over!!

We are so blessed to live relatively close that we could go for a day trip by train (some day) or stay the whole weekend and have a pretty quick commute home.

Wordless Wednesday

I have seen different versions of this around the web and thought I'd give it a little try today..

 (Because wordless is really hard for me... little snowy trail run photo opp... too beautiful not to!)

Being part of something bigger

I hope you all stop over to enter Jill's giveaway @ Two Yellow Birds Decor. There are new giveaways each day until Wednesday.

As for my acutal post, today I want to share something from another realm of my life- running. Saturday morning I got up at 7:30am to do something very different. Not sure whether I have mentioned this previously, but on Christmas day 2012, a girl who graduated High School with my husband and I back in 2003 was diagnosed with Leukemia.

At first I definitely felt a sadness for her and her family, but this seemed to grow as the days went on and I really thought about it I wanted to do something more. One day about a week or so ago, one of those little ads popped up on one of the websites I was visiting. It looked a little something like this

As soon as I saw this, I knew I absolutely needed to figure out how to be a part of this. And dedicate the training and actual run to my classmate. I clicked on the link to find more information and saw they were having info meetings but they were all while I was still at work in the evenings. I didn't let that stop me because they actually had a conference call in the evening one night which, even though I'd be at work, I could step away for a few minutes to listen and get questions answered. As luck would have it, I actually got a call before this point and spoke with someone this past Monday. I just knew I had to get involed. Needless to say, Thursday evening I signed up and was immediately so excited! I knew this was going to be a great experience.

Friday evening I recieved an email from my local area running team coach about the training run Saturday morning at HACC wildwood center which is about 15 minutes away. Oddly, when  I looked at the calendar for Saturday, the mileage listed was 1-1.5 miles. I as pretty stinkin bummed. SERIOUSLY! I run usually no less than 3 miles regardless so I figured that if this was the distance, I would stay after and run more on my own.

Much to my heart's happiness, when I arrived, the coach asked me a little about my running and informed me that the emailed training assumes someone who doesn't regularly run. When I told him that last weekend I ran 8 miles on Sunday he made a statement to the effect of "Yea, you are a runner... you look like a runner." Since this isn't my running blog,I won't go all crazy on what this statement meant for me.. just know that it made my heart smile. So anyway, that being said he told me that most of the people joining the group Saturday were those training for the half marathon in March. The first portion of running would be 5 miles and that if I wanted, I could join  them for the other 4 miles. I laughed, but ended up running the whole 9 miles!!

I now know that my next step will be the Hershey half in the fall and then hopefully next spring I can do the half with Team In Training. I will be running for my classmate in this 10k and for all others following.

Why am I sharing this with you, you might ask? Well part of this committment is raising funds for research for treatments and an eventual CURE for Leukemia/Lymphoma. I am so excited to be part of this experience and would like to ask my followers (and theirs)to consider donating to this cause. Every little bit counts and even if you can only donate $5 or $10 please know that this would be hugely appreciated on my end and is going to such a wonderful organization. Please take a moment to donate at my page here and know that it is so appreciated- both for your support of my involvement and also for finding a cure for cancer.

If you would like to follow along more on my journey toward this event in April as well as day to day fitness- please add me on GFC at my other blog The runner in me.

I also welcome you to follow along with her in My journey to beat Leukemia where she documents each day of her journey to kick cancer's BUTT!!

Thanks for listening and for your consideration in donating to this cause.