Wednesday WIP

What a beautiful morning!  I have been making progress on my new summer hat for 2014.  I am almost done.  I need to finish the last round of SC (single crochet) on the bottom and add the brim.  Yea! 

I am still reading this great book called Wake Up To A Happier Life by Amanda Dickson.  This morning I read pg. 27.  Here she counsels to "Let 'just' and 'have to' fall out of your vocabulary. You aren't just a clerk and you don't have to go to work.  You are blessed with a job where you get to serve people, including yourself, your family, your boss, not to mention your customers, every day.  And you don't have to go to work- you get to, you choose to, you want to.... See- this stuff isn't so hard.  Just because you've never done it before doesn't make it hard.  It makes it unusual maybe, but not hard... You may not have done it before, but it's easy... it's just unfamiliar."

This really hit me this morning, because I just signed on as an Independent Consultant for Close To My Heart.  I am REALLY excited and just about as nervous, too.  I am not one who takes risks.  I don't like soliciting.  And yet, I LOVE their products and have been looking for a way to either supplement our income or to fund my own entrepreneurial endeavors with my table cloths, scarf holders, etc. I just realized that I haven't posted my Scarf Holder. 

I am amazed at what we can accomplish when we change our outlook on life!  Thanks for stopping by. -Dari

Wednesday WIP

Hello! Hello!  We have sure had bipolar weather here in Oakley.  Monday was absolutely beautiful.  It almost reached 70F, which is unheard of for this time of year.  Then last night it snowed!  I woke up to a winter wonderland.  My kids cried.  I thought it was humorous.  Now, the sun is shining and the snow is all but gone.  How's that for ya?!

I have two projects on the hooks/needles right now.  Neither one is going very fast, because the weather has been so nice, I have wanted to be outside.  And, I have been teaching two friends how to do family history/genealogy.  The top one is my new hat for this year.  I am NOT a shopper.  I loathe shopping (unless it is to the craft store).  But, I have this fettish with hats.  I wear them all the time outside.  It is a tradition that I make a new one for myself every year.  I made one for My Princess.  It is pink, of course.  The bottom one is the toe sock I am knitting for my husband.  It may just end up being his Christmas present this year.  Wow!  Amazing concept.  If I actually commit myself to finishing it for Christmas, I can truly say that I have began my Christmas gifts.  Every year I think, "I should start a lot earlier on making my Christmas gifts."  Hmm.  I just may have to.

 

I am currently reading a really uplifting book entitled Wake Up to a Happier Life by Amanda Dickson.  She is a radio talk co-host.  This morning I got a kick out of my reading.  She wrote, "Sometimes it is the simplest work that gives us the easiest access to the most tangible joy."  She continues, "You can get that feeling from getting the garbage out before the garbage man comes.  Just once you want not not be caught in your pajamas as you hear the truck starting to head down your street.  And on that time that you remember to to put it out the night before, and it doesn't storm and blow anything over or strew your trash on your neighbor's lawn, you feel such a sense of accomplishment.  Ahhh."  As I read this, I had a vision of recent date of me running up the street in the middle of the day chasing the newspapers that had blown out of my recycling bin. 

She quotes James M. Barrie in the beginning of this chapter.  He said, "Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else."  Great food for thought.  Hope you have a great day! -Dari

Barbie Castle!

 

I am so excited to share this with you!  My Princess and I created this out of  a set of three plastic shelves, lots of cardboard and a glue gun.

 

 Here is an up close pic of the center front.

 

Here is our elevator!  We drilled little metal eye rings (I think that's what they are) into the side of the elevator and also at the top and bottom of both sides of the side front sections.  Then, we made a knob that turns to raise and lower it.  The picture below shows the knob (pully) better.

 

We HAD to paint it pink!  Of course.  That is My Princess' favorite color.  This pic shows off all our homemade barbie stuff quite nicely.  On the balcony, there is also a boys' room and the swimming pool you see.

She loves it, and I am pleased with the results.  Yea!  Thanks for stopping by and checking it out! -Dari

Flower Birthday Card

Wow! It has been forever.   My kids had spring break two weeks ago, and I didn't have the chance to sit down at a computer to post.  Our trip was wonderful!  We went to California and visited my sister and her family.  We collected sea shells on the beach.  My kids got their very first taste of the ocean.  My oldest fell in love with it.  We got back this past Monday.  Although we didn't fly, I had major jet lag!  It took me a few days to get back into life, and then I was really back into life. 

Two of my friends had birthdays this week, and I was completely out of birthday cards.  I turned to my Pinterest board for some inspiration and found this one.  I really like how my version turned out.  

One tip that I want to share with you is what I used as my pop dots to add dimension to the flower and the sentiment label.  I have a large bag of randomly sized foam shapes.  I simply glued them as the dots.  They worked perfectly. 

Thanks for stopping by! -Dari