Words of Wisdom & Comfort

SOA Love & Tattoos

In January of this year I got the opportunity to meet Ryan Hurst, better known to some of you as Opie from Sons of Anarchy.

Later that day I went and had a tattoo revamped!

It was a fun day!

Who Doesn't Love the Hunger Games?

The Hunger Games have begun!  And America is taking note, and how can we not, look at these leading ladies!

Myself included, hence the following tutorial for this amazing Hunger Games inspired tee.  

1. Cut template, I used my Silhouette, and created this file.  I used freezer paper, and remember when using the Silhouette, you want to have the shiny side of your freezer paper up, which in turn means you need to send the mirror version of your text to your machine.

2.  Iron the shiny side of the freezer paper to your shirt (wash, iron, and de-lint your shirt prior to creating your design).  Remember, you're going to have to put together the mockingjay puzzle which is a bit frustrating, so make sure to reference your original stencil as you go.

3.  Paint away!  I prefer puff paints applied with a sponge brush.  It creates a worn look, totally a'la Katniss. 

 4.  Peel away the stencil to reveal your fabulous work.  And embellish.  I added flames, hello, Girl On Fire!

5.  Don your new frock and rock the runway, or movie theater line, whatever floats your boat.  And what is a Hunger Games get up without a braid in your hair?  I braided my bangs, threw the rest of my hair into a ponytail and raced to the movies.

After I posted my pic of me in my Love shirt I instantly got requests for Team Peeta shirts, here is the design I came up with in all it's Team Peeta glory! 

Today in prepping for this post I scoured the internet for Hunger Games images, and of course I discovered the fact that China Glaze has come out with a Hunger Games line of polishes, how awesome!!

And hello, talk about glam, check out these butterfly lashes!

Now go, make your tee, and see the movie of the year, The Hunger Games!  Oh, and while you're at it, if you haven't already, READ THE BOOKS, they're AMAZING!

Choose Joy - Little Boo Blue

I am in love with Little Boo Blue.  I stumbled upon this site while looking for new craft ideas.  Ashley is the writer, creator, artist (along with another million titles) at the helm of this site.  She is quirky, lovable, and upbeat.  All in all, an amazing woman whom I've never met and yet have a place for in my heart.  This last year has brought more heartache to her life than any one person or family should have to endure.  And yet her motto became and remains, "Choose Joy".

Today my email blog updates have been all about Ashley, her family and their current struggle, cancer.  Ashley has cancer and has chosen to fight it.




This is Ashley before beginning chemo (an adorable family pic):

And this is Ashley now (still smiling and as beautiful as ever):

So short story long, yes, that is what I meat to type, Ashley's family and friends have created an auction to benefit Ashley and her family.  Please, check it out, you might find something you can't live without which will in turn provide additional funds put towards Ashley's battle.  Support the Team Ashley Choose Joy Auction today!

Do You Etsy?

I can't say enough good stuff about Etsy!  It is a hot spot of inspiration, and a portal for purchasing crafty, unique items.  One of my favorite things about Etsy is the ability to create Treasury Lists.  It is basically a snapshot of your favorite items.  Here is one I made a while ago which is very fitting for Valentine's Day.  Enjoy!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

February Already?

Today is February 1st! Wow.  It has been almost a month since I posted last. I haven't been too crafty in the last month, hence the hiatus.  Well, I am back, and it is all due to my Scooby shirts  flying off my Etsy site!  AND the introduction of a Silhouette Cameo into my crafting life.  Stay tuned folks.  Here is a sneak peak at a few goodies I made at the beginning of January for my son and bestie Cara.  Enjoy!

I was featured!

Apparently the holidays have made me lax in my Etsy monitoring!  On December 21st George of What Knot Now featured one of my paracord bracelets on his blog!  Horray for bloggers!  Be sure to check out George's blog, and see my handiwork alongside that of many others!  Happy New Year!

Homemade Vanilla Extract

Merry Christmas!
It is that time of year again, and as usual my husband has been feverishly making jams and jellies for Christmas gifts for our family and friends.  He has an empire of sorts, check out Jelly Man Kelly, that is my husband!  He is an amazing cook, baker, and jelly maker.  He can do it all in the kitchen with his eyes closed and one hand tied behind his back, no, really, he can!  Ok, maybe not the eyes closed part!  ;-)

Every year he does a fabulous job of creating signature jams and jellies that are regularly stollen at family gift exchanges.  And every year I make labels for his concotions, and this year is no different.  In 2009 I added his characture to the labels, and everyone couldn't stop laughing, and believe me, it will be there again this year.  But this year I had the added task of labeling some homemade vanilla extract that has been steeping in our kitchen for the last 6 months.  I was asking Jelly Man Kelly last night what I should put on the labels, and he said to make sure not to forget the vanilla labels, and I gave him a general overview of what I had in mind for those labels.  I explained that I wanted to have them say something to the effect of "Merry Christmas from the Smith's."  He just about fell off the couch as he exclaimed "They have to have my characture and say Jelly Man Kelly on them!"  At which point I politely reminded him (ok, maybe not so politely) that he and I had BOTH scored the vanilla beans, and poured the vodka into the big bottles to start the steeping process.  Yeah, he didn't seem to think that qualified the labels to not have to include Jelly Man Kelly, and not have his characture.  Needless to say, we had a long discussion (ok, maybe a couple of minutes, not forever), and it was determined that having the labels say "From the kitchen of Mr. & Mrs. Jelly Man Kelly" with BOTH our charactures on it would be acceptable.  So here it is, in all it's glory (well, not all it's glory because I didn't print them on normal white labels, no, no, they're on brown kraft paper shipping labels):

Photo Card

Pictures Galore Christmas

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