Red, Wreath, and Blue

With the 4th of July being my FAVORITE holiday, I had to make a wreath for my door. It’s been out for over a week now, along with my other 4th of July décor!

TLC’s Craft Wars “Book” Report

So I saw the promos for Craft Wars on TLC and set my DVD to catch it, last night was the premier.

Last night I ALSO made the mistake of doing Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred at 10 pm (more on my shred later!) Thus, I could not fall asleep and decided to watch Craft Wars… that and Real Housewives ;)

The show is set up with three contestants vying to win 10k based on their creative craftiness. The first challenge is a smaller one where the contestants have to make a specific item, last night it was a sports bag out of sporting equipment (think footballs, uniforms, tennis racquets). Besides the equipment there is a crafters DREAM WALL to use, sponsored by Michaels. (think blue fly accessories wall, but better!) Basically it's like the entire Michaels store, at your fingertips. There is also a whole wood shop and tool part of the set-up. (Hubby would LOVE this!) Each contestant is allowed to bring a helper and after the first challenge (they have one hour to complete the craft) the three contestants are judged and one person is sent home. The second round is more involved- a MasterCraft. Last night the two contestants had to create a kids playhouse out of school supplies. One gal made a cute red schoolhouse with tons of darling details making up the house, but was lacking on activities inside; the other made a school bus with a lot of interactive play things, but overall, was kind of sloppy and frantic. She decoupaged, like, ALL of it…. and I love to decoupage, but she was on the clock! (They had 5 hours to complete the Master Craft). I won’t tell you who won, but it was fun to watch. The judges have some funny, yet staged comments, as does the host, Tori Spelling.

So, my thoughts......

• When is Tori Spelling ever known for being crafty?? She's the host, and for some reason, it wasn’t working for me, (that and WAYYYY too much red lipstick, My opinion is she’s much prettier the more natural she looks) Tori has a new party planning book out, CelebraTORI, which I was eye rolling about at first, but after browsing, looks pretty good!
• Who on earth are these judges???? I have never heard of Stephen Brown, Erica Domesek, or Jo Pearson, who I think I like the best out of the judges. Guess I have some reading-up to do
• There's a difference to being crafty & liking crafts to actually being good at it and creating pretty things. I'd like to think I fall into the latter (group two!). Since only one episode has aired, I couldn't determine if the contestants fall into either or both of my groups. However, I “know” two contestants going to be on the show that definitely fall into group two parameters!
• Two of my FAVORITE bloggers; Mandi at Vintage Revivals AND Brooke at All Things Thrifty are both shown in previews of upcoming episodes! I hope they win!!!
• Watching this show kind of made me a little insecure about my own crafting abilities; on one hand, some of it seemed too tacky and cheesy of crafts for my liking- and the types of crafts I DON’T do; but on the other hand, I felt like I’m not quite Martha enough and would LOVE to spend more time (and $$) creating and being able to develop an amazing eye and talent.
• Overall, It just opened up the possibility of challenging myself to create more and learn by doing… YIPEE!!!!! bring on the crafts!

Ok that’s my 2 cents… stay tuned ‘til next week!

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Venus Transit

On Tuesday June 6th we got to witness something that won’t happen for another 115 years! The Transit of Venus, where Venus passes in between earth and the sun. My handy brother in law has a telescope and we set it up to watch this amazing occurrence. It takes about 7 hours for Venus to pass and it started around 4pm, so we only had about 4.5 hours of sunlight to watch.
It was really cool!

Uncle Pat and Carter

Holding the screen to project the image (you can’t look in the telescope or you’d burn your retinas!)

That tiny dot on the left of the sun is Venus.

Again, the tiny black dot on the upper left is Venus.
Amazing right???? AND Venus is slightly smaller than the earth (see below)
picture source: NASA
Puts A LOT in perspective…….

OMG! I LOVE YOU, REBEKAH

So I have TWO friends named Rebekah (and both spell it that way!) They are both amazingly awesome girls, must be a requirement to have Rebekah as your name….
The first Rebekah I’ve know my WHOLE life and even though we don’t talk or see each other as much as we’d like to, I still consider her one of my best friends. She is about to have her second baby boy any minute now down in Texas (Pray for her, their AC just went out and she is three days PAST her due date!) Anyways, much love to Matt, Becky, Major and Baby Colton (such cute names right?)!
The second Rebekah I got to know within the last year; she is so sweet and such a great mom to her two boys. She’s totally a group two type of mom. Anyways, this Rebekah is a garage sale-er and finds some great treasures in her search. Look what she found for me………….

A DIY-ers dream…. and only $1!!!!!!!!! I am above the moon!
Can’t wait to show you what I’m going to do with it, I think I’ll name her Rebekah

Strawberry Shortcake

One of my dear friends made this dessert a few weeks ago and it was SOOOO delicious, she not only sent me home with the recipe, BUT also the leftovers (as a true friend would )
I decided to try my hand at it for Father’s Day. I made two batches (the second turned out better than the first!)
Here’s the recipe….
Enjoy!
Make and Bake a yellow cake mix, once cooled use that as the bottom layer (I have also used a trifle bowl and made several layers in it).  You want it to be kind of thin, so maybe use a larger pan (Hence why I made two batches).
For the strawberries: Cut up 2 cartons and add about 1/3 cup of sugar.  Warm over a low heat on the stove.  The sugar will create strawberry "juice", then whisk in a tsp. of corn starch to thicken.  Cool.
Whip Cream: Cream cheese to room temp (I used 1 and 1/2--I think that's about 12 oz).  Beat in 1 cup of sugar. Then add a container of Cool Whip.
So I layered the cake, the the whip cream, then the strawberries.  You can add more fresh strawberries on the top and even other fruit like raspberries or blueberries.

OMG it's June!

So YES it has been FOREVER since I blogged!

May was a busy month, I'll try to post some pictures of the highlights; my birthday, mothers day, family in town, graduations, a wedding with the cutest little ring bearer.....

The other MAJOR (and real reason) is that the hubs re-hauled my computer and I don't have Windows Live Writer anymore. Yes, I know you can blog with out it, but it sure makes it easy (and one lazy) if you use it. ANYWAYS, I'm trying some new programs, hoping to find one I like as much as Live Writer. Any suggestions fellow bloggers?

So back on the saddle. Speaking of, who watched Hatfields and McCoys? SOOO good right? We watched all three parts in one night (and didn't go to bed until 2am). It's on the History Channel, definitely for a mature audience, but overall, we enjoyed it.

Ok, I'll be back soon with some recent projects!
And here's some pictures just for fun...