So my first sewing project was inspired by this blog.

I dug out my old button-down shirts that don’t fit me anymore and got busy…

I’ll probably keep one or two, but I think I’ve found another great gift!

This girl made a unique ornament, because she got frustrated trying to make this ornament (that I ended up making into Christmas gifts).

Though, I have to say, I found this one a little more tedious and complicated than the wreaths, but I had enough buttons to make two and I think they are adorable!

A year of losses…

A year of gains…

A year of new burdens to bear…

A year of change.

There is no doubt that I exited 2011 a completely different woman, in a completely different season of life and with completely new thought patterns than when I entered it.

I could probably write 10,000 words or more about what all has changed (but if I did that I’d end up with even fewer readers that I have now – so I’m not going to do that).

The one thing that is very obvious to me as 2011 has closed and I step foot in 2012 is that the meaning of the words I use is suddenly very important to me.

I’m super guilty of exaggerating things and I’m even guilty of saying I’m going to do things but never following through on the commitment. And I’ve also been on the other end of the exaggeration or broken commitment, so I know the distrust those types of things cause in relationships with people.

The other thing is that there are so many idioms and cliches in our speech today that you can’t take a lot of things people say literally.  So, between exaggerations, flippantly-made commitments, and idioms – can you really trust what people tell you?

Well, 2011 has certainly given me my fair share (though sometimes I’ve thought it was a very unfair share) of situations that broke my trust in what people I loved told me.  And as I said earlier, I don’t doubt that people’s trust in me has been broken too, but recently it has become important to me that I do not use my words and people’s trust recklessly.

Some of the things that I have been keenly aware of recently is how much we use “absolute” words – like “always” or “never” or “no one” – words that indicate that there are no exceptions to what you are talking about.

Are you sure you ALWAYS think/say/feel that way?

Are you sure you’d NEVER do/say/think that?

Are you sure that NO ONE has ever…..

Are you sure?  Cuz I’m not…. not anymore.  I probably used to be (or at least think I was) sure, but things that I was so sure that always/never happened began to show that they weren’t always/never so.

Something else that I have found myself doing (and almost to a fault, just ask Ken) is clarifying my own words, because I want my words to say what I intend them to mean, without any confusion or ambiguity.

For example, there’s a show on TV (I have no idea what it’s called or what channel it comes on) that has a therapist walking people through overcoming their phobias.  The one we saw part of the other day had 3 people – one with a fear of bats, one with a fear of mice, and one with a fear of roaches.  And Ken made a comment like “I’m not a fan of those things and I don’t like them in my house, but I’m not scared of them.”  And as I’m thinking about what he said and processing whether or not I agree and remembering calling a friend to come kill a roach in my house and me jumping 7 feet across the room when it crawled out of a hole in the wall, I came to a conclusion:

“Those things do not instill fear in me, though to encounter any one of them would startle me.” And then I went into clarification mode to explain how someone would say “that scared me”, but really there is not a fear in them concerning that thing, they were just startled, but people use “scared” and “startled” as the same thing, but they are really not the same thing.

Ken’s response was “Ok, I get it.  I knew what you meant.”

And he’s probably not the only one who has thought that, but I would rather you tell me “ok, I get it” rather than me assume you got it and then you go on thinking that I meant something that I really didn’t mean.

So, with that, you can probably expect blogs from me that follow that clarifying trend.  And I hope you’ll be able to say “ok, I get it”.

Happy New Year!

Ken liked it but thought it was kind of cluttered.

Then he found this idea on Pinterest.

With the help of Santa (aka Shutterfly), I came home from work one day and found this…

Merry Christmas to me!

I love it!

On Pinterest, I discovered that on this blog, the author did a 31-day series during the month of October on organizing different areas of your house.  Now, my life certainly doesn’t allow me time to do one area a day, but I did take a weekend and start on 2 of the rooms that she mentions.  I got 1 and 1/2 of them done.  Here is the project I copied from her…

It’s a “homemade dry-erase” calendar that hangs in my coat closet where I can write things that I need to remember to take with me before I leave the house.

I already had the frame (8.5×11 document frame), the photo paper (background), the clip, the marker, the hanger, and the string.  And I just picked up free paint chips at Wal-Mart.

Because it’s hanging on my coat closet door, it had the tendency to swing and bang around.  So, I went to Dollar General and bought some adhesive velcro.  I adhered a small portion of the velcro to each corner and to the corresponding positions on the door.  It did the trick!  No more swinging and banging.

The only sad thing is that I haven’t had to go anywhere that I needed to remember to bring something with me!  Well, it is the holiday season, the time will come…

I could completely relate with her feelings of having make-up crowded and unidentifiable in a container and not wanting to mess with it in the mornings.  So, I made a trip to Hobby Lobby (I think Hobby Lobby is making a lot of money thanks to Pinterest!)

The outcome…

It’s so handy!  And it ends up being a motivator on the mornings when I’m like “ugh, I don’t want to get ready!”  It’s there staring at me, so I’ll think “Ok, maybe just some eyeliner so I’ll look alive while I’m at work.” And before I know it, I’m all made-up and ready to sell some drugs! (I’m a pharmacist, don’t freak out)

NOTE: Have you ever had 2 high-power magnets stick together?  They’re pretty stubborn to pull apart.  But have you ever had 1 high-power magnet with hot glue on one side stick to another high-power magnet?  Getting those magnets apart will cause you to have an aneurysm!  Use caution (and lots of open space).

This project comes to you from Martha Stewart.

I was so proud of how mine turned out… and I even think I one-uped Martha because of the variety of colors and combos I made.

I actually made 9 of them!

(I could only fit 5 of them on the stool).

I think part of what made me so happy about how these turned out is because I had seen some reviews by other people who had intended to make this craft and got upset about the cost of the materials.

So, for all the nay-sayers:  don’t buy buttons from fabric stores for this project!  I got a several packs of multi-sized buttons of different color schemes from Wal-Mart between $1-$5 (depending on how many buttons were in the packs).  The ribbon is from Dollar General.  Not an expensive project to get 9 unique button-wreath ornaments.  Can you say inexpensive Christmas presents?

And for the record: I am not a perfect bow-tier.  I am, however, a decent, bow constructor/gluer.  Yes, that means I folded and glued ribbon to make it look like a tied bow!

In October, Ken and I went to Folly Beach (records and pictures of our adventures are recorded on this blog).

We collected a basket full of shell – literally!

I had been inspired by a previous shell collection that Ken had from when he was a kid – it was just old and discolored and the shells probably would have ruined if I tried to remove them.  But I had bought the supplies I needed to complete such a project, I was just hesitant about actually starting it (aka removing old shells from old paper).

So, after our trip, my inspiration for this project was renewed.  And here’s the outcome…

Supplies needed:

- 12×12 Shadow box (minus the glass if you are going to use thicker shells like I did)

- 1 sheet of complementary scrapbook paper

- hot glue gun and hot glue sticks

- Sea shells from down by the sea shore! (I just picked my favorites – trying to get a variety of color combinations and the least cracked ones possible.)

1. Glue the scrapbook paper to the backing of the shadow box.

2. Arrange them on the paper (while it is in the frame because the edges of the paper will be behind the frame and you have to fit them all within the margins).

3. Remove the frame and glue down the shells.

4. Replace the frame and lock the backing back into place.

5.  Hang on the wall!

I don’t know what anyone else’s childhood was like but I remember loving collecting shells, and always sad that a lot of them were broken.  So, if you (or your kids) enjoy shelling at the beach but don’t know what to do with the good ones when you get home, make a shadow box!  It’s a great way to remember a terrific beach vacation with your family.

So, anyway… This is not a completely original idea, but it’s got my own tweaks to it.

I saw a wreath on Pinterest that was from a blog about making a “wintertime” wreath.  Let’s define “wintertime” wreath.

Wintertime wreath: *noun* a wreath that you can hang at Christmas time but do not have to take down after Christmas time because it does not contain Christmas colors or ideals, thus can represent “winter” instead of just Christmas.

So, I used inspiration from above blog and came up with my own way of making the wreath.

Let the tutorial begin! (pictures included).

Use the pliers (or other tool) to untwist and open up the hanger.  Bend the open hanger into a circle (or as close as you can get).  My hanger wasn’t perfectly round, but the bulkiness of the ornaments covered that imperfection and it looks round!

Open your packages of non-Christmas colored ball ornaments.

Thread the ornaments onto the wire hanger so that they fit as tightly together as possible.

Note: I hung my hanger on a hanging rack so I could use two hands.  Plus, as you add more ornaments, it gets heavy.

As you group your ornaments together, use hot glue to hold them in place. WARNING: Beware of glue strings!

I started my ornaments at the bottom, then arranged them in two halves.  You can always push them to the opposite side and make it one continuous grouping.  Whatever floats your boat!

Fill up the hanger with ornaments but make sure you can still re-close the hanger.

If you look closely at the picture above, you can see that I did not re-twist my hanger closed, I used a rubber band to hold it together.  If you have enough space to get your tools in there to close it – great! I didn’t, so I had to improvise.

Now, you’ll need some type of “gap filler” – I used these little silver balls on a wire twisty things I found at Hobby Lobby.  You can use whatever you want to fill in the spaces between the balls so the hanger doesn’t show. (with my little twisty things, I bound them together in little bundles with floral wire)

Using more hot glue to fit the fillers in the gaps.

Next, pick a ribbon to make a bow.

I have to admit, I had to go on YouTube to find a tutorial on how to make bows for wreaths.  But, it didn’t take me but a few minutes to figure it out.  So, make your bow to cover any gaps at the top of the hanger.  You also want to be able to cover the hook of the hanger.  I used some leftover silver-ball twisty things and hot glue to hold my bow into place.

Then hang your wreath wherever you please and admire!

Ta-dah!  A wintertime wreath!

And that ends my first craft tutorial (I hope it makes sense).

It inspired her to make her own.  And she posted step-by-step instructions on her blog.

I saw hers on Pinterest, warned her I was about to straight up copy her.

I went to Hobby Lobby and bought my materials:

- 1 thick wooden frame

- 4 sheets of scrapbook paper

- 1 plaster H

I used them to make this…

Ok, so I didn’t straight up copy her.  We obviously have different decorating styles for our homes (and yes, both of our last names start with H).

I think it turned out wonderfully!  It hangs in my den and I get to walk by it every day and see it.  I love it!

And I take absolutely no credit for this great idea, the inspiration and instructions came from Morgan.  So, thanks Morgan!!