She's Crafty...

I know that I claim to be crafty, it's right there in the title of my blog, but I seem to be showing more photography stuff lately. With the purchase of my first DSLR I have rekindled my old love for photography. I love it. But, I also still love getting my fingers all covered in glue and the sound of ripping paper. Ahhh... paper. If any of you are at all into paper crafts then you know that going down the scrapbook aisles at a craft store can give you the shakes and break you out in a cold sweat.
You see it. It's the coolest pattern you've ever come across. You don't need it. You have more paper now than a human could ever possibly use but what if you never see it again. That hand reaches out involuntarily and throws it in the cart. You probably need more than one sheet. Oh, and don't forget to get stuff to coordinate with it. What's the good of having it if you have nothing to go with it. It's like a new outfit with the wrong shoes; it just doesn't work. Before you know it you've picked up one of those HUGE packs of coordinating papers. I mean, heck, it's on sale after all. Then, if you're like me, you put it in your pile and maybe use a couple sheets before it gets more paper that you had to have piled on top of it.
It's a never ending cycle. I know I should probably see if there is a paper crafters anonymous group to join but I'm not hurting anyone and I can stop any time I want to. I just choose not to.

Anyway. Here are some of my recent crafty endeavours. I made them at night in IL. when everyone else was asleep. They were gifts for our IL babysitters who probably had WAY too much other stuff to do but still came over and played with our kids while we went out for grown up time.

Wordless Wednesday: National American Cowboy Day

Creative Every Day Challenge: Self Portraits

As part of a project about self I thought I'd include some self-portraits. I like these but, if I look to long I start to pick out the flaws. For instance, I have one eye that's bigger than the other and I come from a long line of the chin impaired...Thank goodness my kids seemed to inherit one from their dad! Notice there are NO full body shots. Maybe in a few months I'll have shed a few pounds and will be ready for that but as of right now... NO WAY.

Don't get me wrong... I like my eyes, I've got good lips and a nice nose and, although a bit bushy, my eyebrows have a good shape to them. I've got a white grey streak in my hair that IS natural and that I get compliments on all the time. All in all I didn't do too bad in the gene pool but the flaws just seem to out shine the rest when you sit and stare at pictures of yourself for too long.

My kids are a super important part of who I am. I take tons of pictures of them or them with their dad but every once in a while we like to sit together, stretch the camera out and see what we get. Here are a couple of those.

The beauty of the reciprocal membership

So this is more of a 'mom' post than usual but here goes. As some of you may know the hubby and I took the kids to IL for the summer so Dave could TD at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival. We were there living in a 2 bedroom apartment for nearly 3 months. Two bedrooms... four people... a bit small. I neede things to keep us busy.
Before we even left Texas I had done some research and knew that the Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington accepted the Dallas Zoo pass. I purchased a Dallas Zoo pass. Seemed a no brainer. We love zoos. The Miller Park Zoo is pretty small compared to what we're used to but it was awesome. As a bonus the Dallas Zoo Pass also got us into the Cleveland Zoo in Ohio. We went there to visit friends and family. It also got us into the Peoria Zoo in Peoria, IL about 45 minutes away from where we were. They had just opened a new Africa section which was amazing! I went twice.
In Normal, IL there is a way cool Children's Museum. Turns out our pass for the Dallas Science Center also worked there. Now I had a rainy day activity as well. Woo Hoo! I had NO idea.
Now, to make things even better... We were only 2 hours south of Chicago. LOVE Chicago. We took the kids for a couple of day trips and one over night. My passes also got us into the Children's Museum at the Navy Pier, the main part of the Shedd Aquarium (which saved us about $30) AND the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.
Needless to say I was thrilled. All of these things were super duper cool and the kids had some great experiences. Although I spent a chunk up front we saved a lot in the long run and I saved a bit of sanity... what there is of it.
If you're planning on doing ANY travelling look into these memberships and where else they can be used. They're usually good for a whole year which means that even when you're at home you can get a lot of use out of it. I must say I was pleasantly surprised.

Sorry no pictures at this time. I'm busy trying to put all the pictures I took onto this computer. They will be coming soon!

Wordless Wednesday - Mommy's Little Rockstar

My Wordless Wednesday contribution for this week.

Best Shot Monday

I'm having a very hard time choosing between these for my best shot today. They're all special and a favorite in their own way.

We went with some friends and had a picnic at a park. Some of these may have been in a previous posting but these are my most recent favorites.

First Love

Fun

All Fall Down

Rock Stars

Kids Will Be Kids

And here it is.... My BEST SHOT for the week...

Claudia

I love this one because she looks like such a kid. I'm also a little biased because she was standing there watching the 'skate rats' at the ramps. Like mother like daughter.

A little bit of craftiness

So, I did it. I made a dress for my daughter. It's been washed and worn more than once and is still in one piece. I don't own a sewing machine so I had to use fusible web stuff and then I sewed over the top of that. It did take a while but I think it turned out pretty well.
Not too bad for not having a clue...

Wordless Wednesday - We All Fall Down

See more Wordless Wednesday at http://www.wordlesswednesday.com

Self

I'm trying to work on a project about SELF. Presumably, my SELF. I keep trying to figure out where to begin. I suppose the beginning is the best place.
I was born a poor black child... Oh wait, that's Steve Martin in the Jerk...
I was born in 1970. To 2 NON hippie parents. Both Mom and Dad grew up on farms. My mom in North Ridgeville, OH and my dad in Levant, ME.



Erv and Rita chose to raise their brood in Elyria, OH. I have four younger siblings, 2 brothers and 2 sisters, who all grew up together in a big house in a nice, middle class neighborhood.


We fought a lot as kids but were always together. We all had our own friends and were all involved in school activities. I was on the newspaper and in Drama Club. I was a Girl Scout all through high school. Yep, I'm pretty sure I was the only one in my district with blue hair and combat boots.
I was very fortunate to have parents who encouraged our individuality and yet instilled the fear of their wrath upon me. I've heard people say that parents should treat all of their children the same. I think they got it wrong. What I learned from my mom and dad is that you treat them all EQUALLY but not necessarily the SAME.
My parents are a ginormous part of who I am.
They are the ones who taught me to be myself and how to argue my point. They even taught me that it's ok for 'old' married couples to show affection to one another (no matter how embarrassing it was to me at the age of 14).
My husband likes to say that my family's biggest DYSFUNCTION is that we're overly functional.
I hope that that runs over into my adult life (even if it does require medication to smooth the process along).
So thanks Mom and Dad!

You can go to http://www.creativeeverday.com to see and find out more.

Wordless Wednesday - Rapunzel