My sisters and Mom got their Christmas purses today so I can post pictures! WOOHOO I am so excited because I have been dying to post pictures! So here they are

Here is my moms



I didn't use a pattern for this one and the fabric is so busy that you can't tell how cute it is. BOOOO I told my mom I wasn't happy with how it came out so one of these days I am going to make her another one. I already know which one I am going to do too.

Kimmie's purse





It was hard to see but there is a pleat in the center and then a pleat one each side so that's what the close up is supposed to be showing. I love the fabric on this one and both the outside and the inside fabric was a remnant I got for like 2 bucks a piece. AWESOME! Here is the pattern for the purse

pattern Try and make it yourself

Kristy's purse




This bag was my favorite! I was so happy with how it turned out. My sister Kristy is a big "Go green" girl. So naturally I used an old pair of pants I have had since before I got married and before that they were my friend Myra's pants for who knows how long. I even used one of the pockets from the pants for the inside pocket of the purse. Just so everyone knows, I totally copied this purse! haha I didn't make the idea of the flower or anything just copied it. The only thing "creative" I did was that the original bag used 8 or 9 different fabrics for the flower. I used the same fabric and I also used it for the inside of the handle AND I used it for the flap and in the original she used the main body fabric for the flap. I like how mine pops. Anyways here you go
pattern try and make it yourself. Check out her blog too for LOTS of other purse ideas.


HERE

EVIL!

We wanted to by some cookie dough at Walmart. I was trying to pick something that Tyler would like and that I would like as well. I picked chocolate chip cookies that were small. BAD IDEA. Because instead of 3 cookies, you eat like....10! BAD BAD BA IDEA!!!



Never again!

Purses

I mentioned in my last blog that I have been starting to make purses. I think I might be obsessed with them. I am going to end up with 50 purses. I made a pre-run on the one I was making my sister Kim so I used my cheap fabric I got for like 50 cents. The bag ended up costing me like a dollar to make and turned out pretty cute.



It's so hard to see the detail because the pattern on the fabric is so busy but there are three different pleats on each side of the bag.

Then I saw this really cute clutch on etsy.com and the pattern for it was 6 bucks. I thought, "That's not to expensive." Then I looked at it closer and thought, "I don't need a pattern for that! So I grabbed some fabric, cut it out and started sewing. Pretty much 30 minutes to an hour later I had this





I think it turned out way cute and can't wait to try it again with interfacing. I didn't bother using any because I was just doing a trial run but next time I will take the time to use it and make the bag sturdier.


I can't wait until after Christmas so I can post pictures of the purses I have made for my mom and sisters. So far I love all of them but one of them I especially love and totally want to keep! haha So I think I might make myself one next. ( even though I already started myself a purse like 3 weeks ago and then ran out of creative ideas and decided to hold off on it until after Christmas ) I am also WAY excited to take pictures of my little girl tomorrow. I finally finished the dress my mom and I started while I was in Utah. It turned out so cute and I can't wait to see it on her!

Crafting

MAN! I am addicting to crafting blogs. Not only do I get the best ideas from them, but also I get the best inspiration to keep being creative. I am making purse for my sisters and mom for Christmas which launched me into a bag search in the blog world. WOW! People make cool bags and HOLY WOW people really over charge for a lot of them. Some of them I totally understand the price and some are just plain LAME. It's fun that you can make something so different from just one pattern though. While in Utah I found a pattern at a thrift store for 25 cents and my mom got it out and tried it. I didn't know how to read a pattern and wanted her to show me. We got it almost all the way done and now I have to put the finishing touches on. As soon as I do, I will post a picture. For now I am off to bed. Cody and I have decided to make time every night for the whole month of December for "US" time. Haha We'll see how it goes. I'll keep everyone posted. wink wink

ETSY

I made my FIRST ETSY.COM purchase today! WOO HOO WHat exciting thing did I get you ask? Fabric, a pattern, something home made? NOPE I bought magnetic snaps for the purses I am making for Christmas. haha How lame am I? But seriously, if you are into making purses and buy the magnetic snaps sometimes, buy them there. It was the cheapest I could find them any where.

To Bang or Not To Bang?

I realize how bad this title sounds. Really it should be To Do Bangs or Not to do Bangs but it just doesn't sounds as good. haha I am still debating on cutting some tiny off to the side bangs. You know those, I don't really have bangs but sort of do thing?! Yeah...I'll decide one of these days. For now I am loving my new hair cut. Just thinking about the bangs. While I am talking about hair I thought I would post some pictures of clips I made recently. My friend Crystal has a daughter who loves snails. I saw some snail clips and asked her if she would be interested in me making her some. She said, "Bring it on!" and asked if I would make some other ones too. Awesome. Keep in mind this was like 3 or 4 months ago. SOOOOOOOO I tried making the snail clip and it didn't come out right. Crap. I tried a couple of times and didn't think it looked good so I kept putting it off. Finally one day while browsing on etsy.com at hair clips, I saw another snail clip done differently then the way I had been trying. Not only was it SUPER easy, but I thought it was cuter anyways. So I got to work and after 3 months of promising clips I stayed up late one night and made some. Here is what I came up with for her.



Here is the snail clip. I made a matching one too I just only took a picture of one.



These ones I actually made right away but didn't want to send until I had more made.





I thought they all turned out cute. Sorry it took so long Crystal but I hope they get used! Then I went a head and made a head band for my cousin who was getting ready to have a girl. I am posting two pictures because the flash going off washed it out but then not having the flash wasn't the best either.




I posted pictures of this dress I made Kayla on my other blog




It is such a bad picture but I couldn't get her to stand still. There are some pleats in it too but again you can not tell in the picture. The true test was I washed it and it stayed together! haha But here is what it looked like BEFORE I made the dress.



I could NOT find the picture before so it never got posted. Now you have seen what it looked like before. Well, I really am NOT turning this into a crafting blog I swear. Just in anything goes blog and anything I think is not appropriate for my family blog will get dumped here. I have another blog I am posting but I have to take some pictures first so who knows how long it will take to do so. Hopefully not too long but Cody will be home again in two days which means no blogging for me late at night like I am doing right now. Oh well, I will make some time. Hopefully...

Sock Monkey and New Purse

So my SIL made a sock monkey for her daughter for Christmas last year and I thought it was such a cute idea. I had been wanting to do it but didn't have a sewing machine and so on. Well once I got a machine I started looking at socks. I found skull and cross bone ones at our walmart and new I HAD to get them for the monkey. I read the direction and thought, "Well this should take me an hour tops!" Holy crap was I WRONG! I worked on it forever yesterday and FINALLY finished it at like 11:30! Tyler kept asking me if it was done so I wanted it to be finished when he woke up. I was originally making it for Kayla but I think it has officially been taken over by Tyler. So what do you think?





Also, I finished Myra's purse. Good thing too since TODAY is her birthday and I still have to mail it to her! haha What do you think? I just made it up as I went along and I think the finish product is cute. I am thinking about making one for me too. And I LOVE the fabric.

Life Is Good

Thankful

Today I am thankful for thrift stores. SERIOUSLY. I bought tons of stuff for 6 bucks. I honestly think the chick rang me up wrong. She said 6 bucks and I said, "For all of it?" and she said yes! WEIRD. I will post pictures tomorrow because it is late, I am planning on waking up early and getting my hair cut and I didn't actually take the pictures yet. I am WAY excited about the stuff I got though. Also, I finished Myra's purse today. Hopefully I can get it mailed out tomorrow but we shall see. TONS of stuff for only six bucks.....can't beat that! Life is good...

WOW

So I didn't do so hot on my thankful post but i will say this. I should NOT have started it right before Cody was getting ready to go on a trip. We were running around for like 3 or 4 days straight trying to do a bunch of stuff before he left and we were hardly home. I think I will pick up on it again soon and try again. For now I have decided that my crafting stuff will get posted here. I don't want to turn the family blog into the Katie's crafting corner and lately that is what it has been.

I am starting a new purse. Before I went a head and cut into my fabric that I paid a lot of money for, I decided to do a practice run on some scraps I had laying around. It ended up turning out SO cute! haha I love the colors and how everything turned out. This is going to sound mean, and I TOTALLY don't mean for it to be BUT I was going to use a pattern I found on line. Maybe I just got spoiled with the first bag I did because the directions and pictures were amazing, it was hard to mess it up. YOu can find it HERE This is the one I was going to do here and I was really excited about it. Not only is the bag really cute, but there are SO many people making them on line using here directions and I keep finding it on everyone's craft blogs. So I bring up the directions yesterday and start to read them. I get to about the fourth direction down and decided to just make it however I thought it should be. I thought the directions were awful and she didn't even give the measurements for some of the steps which left me guessing and making it up as I went a long any ways. SO really I made this bag all on my own. Here is what I came up with







For the inside I used a fabric that I got for 25 cents recently at a local craft store. When I got it home and opened it up it had a HUGE permanent marker #7 with a big circle around it RIGHT in the middle of the fabric. Seriously? I guess that is why it was 25 cents. So I used that as the inside lining so it wouldn't be visible any ways. Take it permanent marker! Too bad for me the orange fabric on the outside is really thin so you can still kind of see it through the fabric on the outside! haha Oh well. Like I said it was my practice bag and I have NO IDEA what to do with it now.

NOW, I am about to start on my REAL one. It's for my friends birthday. She doesn't read this so I feel I can tell all. I bought cute Owl fabric since she is my reason for the love of owl's. We had an inside joke about them that exploded into a 8 or 9 year collection of Owls, which will keep on going especially since Owls are so popular now! Who knew that would ever happen. It makes me laugh. Let's hope the "real" bag ends up SUPER cute! So for now I am off to start cutting my fabric and figuring out exactly how I am going to sew it. No pattern here this time and if you know the person who invented the other one, I was not trying to be rude I swear! It just didn't do me any good and I am sure half of that is because I am not an experienced sewer yet. So for those who are, try her pattern and let me know how it goes. :)

Thankful day 3

I am so thankful for my kids! They bring so much joy to my life and I don't know what I would do without them!

Thankful day 2

I LOVE MY IN LAWS! I mean seriously, Cody and I talk about this all the time how we both got lucky because neither of us have crazy parents! haha I think everyone has those nightmare in laws but we don't! YEAH! Look what I got in the mail today from my mother and father in law



Isn't it gorgeous!? It is a big canvas print of my girl! I FREAKING LOVE IT! Can NOT wait to hang it next to the one I already have on the wall of Tyler! I'm so lucky!!!

Thankful Day 1

Today I am thankful for Halloween fabric! Seriously, the best fabric ever is Halloween fabric :) It is sooooooooooooo colorful and fun and makes anyone happy. I started a Halloween quilt when I was a senior in high school and I am FINALLY going to tie it! haha The top has been done all these years but I didn't know how to tie it and so it just never got done. I took it to my church Friday because the old ladies go down there and quilt on Fridays. I figured they would think my quilt was weird and they all LOVED IT! haha Even old ladies who like flowers and very girly things like Halloween fabric! I just bought some Halloween fabric I am excited about but haven't decided what to make yet. :)

Thankful

I was browsing some other blogs and got a good idea from one. This lady did a thankful month and I thought it was so nice. So I am going to start on Monday. I hate starting it when the month already started but I would also hate waiting so long to start it. Since this blog hasn't been used much and I may want to get personal with this. Just in case I'm putting it here. Hope you will enjoy reading it and that you may be inspired to do a thankful month as well!

Childrens poetry

My sister Kristin, My dad and I started writing a children poetry book several years ago. We were going to try and get it published but then never did anything with it. We would call each other all the time and read things over the phone and what not. One night Cody was working and I was hanging out with my sister. We were really hyper and being crazy. We started talking about how crazy my dad is and all the different jokes he tells all the time. One thing he used to tell people is that he used to have a friend growing up with the last name Balls. People would gasp and what not and then my dad would go on to say that he always got teased and made fun of. Then he would always end the joke with, "Yeah, I can't believe his parents named him Harry!" And cue laughter...

I decided to write a poem in his honor.

My friends last name is Balls
and it causes him such grief
He'd rather it be Smith or Shane
That would be a HUGE relief
In stead it is just Balls
But that's not the part that's scary
You'd think his parents were smart enough
NOT to name him Harry


I called my dad and read it to him over the phone and for some reason he had NO idea where the poem was going until I read it. Then he laughed and hung up on me. Good times in the Shane family...

Getting Rid of Electronics

Okay so this is a copy and paste from an email I get every day on tips for staying green! I LOVE it. If you want to sign up it's called idealbite.com and they offer great tips for living green. You can sign up to get one a day and they also have one for moms and I find those tips WAY more useful usually. Any ways...here is today's.

Get rid of it already - but instead of dumping broken stuff or games they've outgrown, recycle their electronic waste. Here's where to dispose of it safely, or else refurbish and resell it for cash. Either way, you'll keep ewaste outta landfills. Just do it.

The Benefits

* Facing less trash. Americans buy millions of new gaming consoles every year, many to replace older models. Recycling consoles and controllers helps reduce the 2.5 million tons of ewaste we dump each year.
* Fewer toxins taking the plunge. Many popular game consoles tested positive for hazardous chems such as PVC, phthalates, and toxic flame retardants beryllium and bromine. Recycling keeps 'em off the ground and out of the water supply.
* Not swallowing up more resources. Reusing or recycling games, controllers, and consoles averts the need for new glass, metal, and plastic - energy-sucking processes that put a strain on the planet.
* Going for less packaging. No need to send plastic CD cases or game boxes to the landfill either - these companies accept the whole shebang.



Wanna Try?

* Best Buy - recycle your old video game consoles, DVD players, TVs, laptops, and other electronics at any store; service is mostly free, but $10 for bigger items (TVs, computers...), which BB offsets with a $10 gift card.
* Amazon Video Games Trade-In - this new offering from Amazon lets you send in your still-in-good-condition video games for an Amazon gift card, depending on the value of the game (free shipping).
* BuyMyTronics - scoop up cash or a donation to a charity of your choice for new, used, or broken electronics like iPods and PlayStations, plus the games and cords that go with 'em; example: $65 for a working Nintendo DSI.
* NextWorth - also offers cash for good-condition consoles and games (it'll accept and recycle broken stuff for free); example: $11 for a PlayStation 2.
* Gazelle - sell your video games, consoles, movies, and calculators; it pays shipping; example: $8 for a first-gen iPod Nano.
* Earth 911 - type in your zip code for a list of places in your area, with contact info and hours, that accept all things electronic.

"Marriage"

Is it just me or has the word marriage these come to mean something more like, Long term relationship? It seems that no one values marriage any more. Cody travels for work a lot. This is no secret. He is one of the only guys at his work who looks at it as time away from his family as a bad thing. The rest of them can't wait to get back on the road to get away from their wives. Most of them of course cheat while they are gone. One of Cody's first days as a trainer, someone older man he didn't even know pulled Cody to the side and told him, "Son, I am going to teach you everything I know about cheating on your wife. I have been doing it for years and have never been caught!" He was PROUD about it and thought Cody would be grateful and think this guy was "cool". What a schmuck! Unfortunately, most of the others guys are like this, NOT ALL, but most.

For instance, Cody has been gone almost exactly 3 months now. One of the guys on the trip with him JUST cheated on his wife this week. You are gonna see your wife in a week moron, you can't wait one more week to keep it in your pants?! Two or three of the other guys are cheating on their wives as well. One of which has been married for over 20, maybe 30 years. He was already caught cheating when he was in Kuwait for a year. His wife, who is a very nice person by the way because we know her, told him if he does it again they are done. He is in Germany with Cody and guess what? The first month they were in one area and then they moved a couple of hours away to a new location. Well every weekend he has been driving back to the other hotel to hook up with this girl he met whom he calls him girlfriend. WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE!?!?!?!

This might sound stupid but one of the things that REALLY bothers me about this is the fact that most of them cheat JUST to cheat. They aren't falling in love, they just can't keep it in their pants so they go for the first person who will have sex with them. Usually, this means someone less attractive then their wives. I told Cody straight out if he EVER decides to cheat on me, she better DAMN WELL BE FREAKING HOT! No cheating down or he is in even WORSE trouble then he will be for the cheating part. Seriously. Sounds stupid I know but come on, cheat UP people if you are gonna do it.

I am SO out of time on this post even though there are a million things I want to write still but one of the other things that gets me is when you have kids and you cheat. People are just so selfish now a days that they ruin things for the sake of pleasure. Why did you get married and have kids in the first place? I can't stand that. One of the guys he was in Iraq with one time had a girlfriend and his wife, back in Texas had a boyfriend. He said while he was on the road she was allowed to have a boyfriend and he was allowed to have a girlfriend and they have two small children who are seeing their mom with another man. PROBABLY spending the night in the bed their daddy is supposed to be sleeping in. And guess what happened? She left him for this other guy AND took ALL the money he had earned while in Iraq! That's what you get people for messing around and being selfish.

NO CHEATING! There is no point. If you don't want to be together any more, just get divorced and save everyone else the hurt and pain. ESPECIALLY if you have kids. You are NOT doing them any favors by staying together and then cheating. Kids are smarter then you think. They see things, they know things. They LEARN from YOU and your behaviors. Don't go sneaking around because I bet you anything they know.

One more thing real quick...Cody talks to me every night before he goes to bed and he wakes up at 5:30 every morning so that he can talk to me for a half an hour or so before he gets ready for work. One of the guys at his work told him that he was proud of him for doing this and for not cheating and for loving his family because of how everyone else from their work is. It almost seems dumb doesn't it. Someone is proud of Cody for loving his family and wanting to be with them. Isn't that what you are SUPPOSED to do?

PS No time to look over this to make sure I don't have mistakes, which means there are most likely mistakes!

New shoes

These are my new shoes. I'm turning into an old lady and I am only 27....

http://www.naturemoms.com/play-dough-recipes.html

If you are interested in going natural like me, and are trying to rid yourself and family of harmful chemicals go to this site. I found this play dough recipe for an eco-friendly version of make your own play dough. Sure buying play dough is probably cheaper but you can make it fun by having your kids help. Plus you know your kids won't be eating nasty chemicals when they put some in their mouth while you are not looking!

Excuse me?

I got this card from my friend Stacy B when I was in Collage and I LOVE IT! It's the best card ever...and you can't deny it!


For those who can not read it, it says, "Excuse me but do you know the orgasm song?"
and the woman says, "No but hum a few bars and I can fake it!"

HEEHEE

Ribbon

I bought ribbon this weekend and I am so excited to finally make some ribbon. I am sad however, that the stupid company didn't give me my order. I had some cute skull and cross bone ribbon that I can't find any where else. But here is what I got...

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

I order some cute ribbon and a head band to make Kayla some bows for her hair on May 16th. When I finalized my order they sent me a confirmation email that said it would take 10 to 14 days to process and I am died. Seriously, for ribbon? What takes that long to ship me ribbon. SO I patiently waited. After almost a MONTH of hearing nothing from them, and obviously NOT getting my order, I finally wrote them to complain. This was Monday. My email said this:

I order something WELL over 14 days ago and I am wondering where my order is? I didn't realize it would take so long and I am starting to get a little upset. Can you please let me know what is going on with my order? My order ID is 19904 and I order my stuff on May 16. I appreciate any information you can give me. Thank you

Katie


Okay I thought that was nice but with the bitchy undertone I think it deserved. I got this in response like 3 hours later

Your order actually shipped this morning. Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Alexis Bowtique


YEAH RIGHT! Do they think I am stupid? Apparently they did. I am so sure that they just happened to ship my order the same day I write to complain. Here's the thing, I STILL never got an email with tracking info, something my FIRST email from them said I would get once my ordered had been completed and shipped. So I was NOT hopefully. Now TWO days have past since they supposedly shipped my stuff and I get a thing from paypal saying I have been refunded because the ribbon is on back order! WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?! SO I sent another email

Why, when you told me two days ago that my order was shipped that morning almost a month after placing my order, do you just today give me a refund and say the ribbons are on back order? This is the worse service I have ever gotten from a company and I WILL tell all my friends and family about it!!!


SO that is what I am doing. NO ONE order form them every. They are called Alexis Bowtique and the web address is just that. I AM SO PISSED. What makes me the most mad is that they lied and then didn't even write to apologize. Also the fact that I order like 5 or 6 different styles of ribbon and ALL of them are out of stock. It was really cute ribbon too that I haven't been able to find any where else. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. Any one else know where I can order cute ribbon? Some where who will ACTUALLY fulfill my order? That would be super!

Okay thanks for letting me bitch and moan, I am done now.

Sharing Time

One of my dear friends I have acquired since in Texas bought Tyler a book from the dollar store one time. She was getting a package together for us for our LONG drive to Utah for Christmas 2 years ago. So she just kind of looked at it and grabbed it to put in the bag. Tyler has decided since being at church and learning about Jesus, that he really likes reading it. Sometimes we read it 3 or 4 times in a row which isn't hard considering it is like 11 pages long. It's called "Jesus Loves The Little Children" and every time I read it, it gets funnier and funnier to me. Maybe it's just me but I think the person who wrote it is a racist at heart trying to pretend like they love everyone equally. Why would I say that? WELL, I decided to show you this book and my thoughts on each page as I go. This is why this post is HERE instead of at my family blog. Didn't want to offend anyone with this highly offensive post. I am not being racist I swear. I LOVE everyone. It just screams out from the pages that I had to see if maybe it was just me? So here we go...




Front cover...ain't it purdy? Jesus Loves the Little Children...




"Jesus loves the little children" It is a bunch of multiracial kids playing peacefully together in an open field. Awwwwww




"All the children of the world" They are all holding hands, isn't that sweet? The next page is where it starts to get....well, you decide.




"red" to me this is clearly Mexican kids playing on a beach. At least they didn't draw them drinking or doing something illegal. And the whole "red" thing DRIVES ME CRAZY..but I think, maybe it was just a coincidence. Then I turn the page and see this:




"and yellow" WHAT? This is clearly Asian kids working in a field. Oh dear....whats next? Maybe it's still just me...




"black" This is a picture of black children on a play ground. At least it was playing on a play ground and not something else...and Tyler get confused by this page. He always ask where the black is. For him there is no black on this page. Poor guy. Could this book get any worse?




"and white" Okay hold it! The white kids are clearly celebrating their "whiteness" by having a parade in the streets! Come on people.




"They are all precious in his sight" Sure. That's why the white kids are leading the parade and all the different multiracial kids are behind them. Oh and I am PRETTY sure that's a black kid at the very back. Am I wrong?




"Jesus loves..." Okay is it just me, or does it look like the white kid is shoving the black girl out of the way? haha I just noticed this one recently. His hand isn't holding her hand, it's on her shoulder...while running? Yeah, he's pushing her.




"The little children..." Okay. the person illustrating the book realized they needed to put Jesus holding a black kid now before someone notices what his book was REALLY about. But don't worry, he is still holding hands with the white girl.




"Of the world" Again, back to the white kid....actually this picture confuses me. It MIGHT be a Mexican kid but they colored him WAYYYYYY to light that I am having trouble telling.

So that's it. Every time I read it it gets funnier. I know I am a horribly sick person. I think the book had a great message and they were trying to put it in a way that would teach kids about other races but I just think they failed horribly!