After a Long Break....

 It's been eons since my last post. Poor neglected blog.

 Well, we survived our first official year of homeschooling! And it was awesome! We're not "officially" done for another week and half or so, but we've finished all books in the main curriculum. We're still reviewing and practicing a lot of the same things we covered this year, and will continue to do so over the summer, just to keep it all fresh.

 I've taken a break from my Etsy shop for a while to focus on some personal projects, learning new techniques, and learning cross-stitch. :-) I've also committed to finally typing out some patterns. Yes! Finally. It's only taken me a year! It just wasn't something I was able to do while maintaining the shop. Every time I'd sit down at the computer with my yarn and hook, I was reminded of all the crocheting I still had to do to get orders out on time.

 I also took two weeks to repaint four rooms in the house. I completely redid the guess room, with exception to the furniture. The laundry room saw a complete overhaul as well.

 There are so many pictures of all of my projects, but here are just a few for now...

"Up" inspired cross-stitch

Sign for the guest room wall. The quote is from John Irving's "The Ciderhouse Rules"

Doctor Who cross-stitch

Crocheted collar/necklace

Part one of a three part quote from Alice in Wonderland. I'm almost done with the last one. I'll post the finished project once it's done!

That's all for now, but I'll be back with more. And a lot sooner than last time!

Bedroom Makeover!

This was Emmy's room in New England. When we moved, we promised her we'd paint her new room however she wanted it. She was adamant that her new room would need to look exactly like her old room. 

Her room was an odd peachy-orange when we moved in. Not a horrible color, but so not *her.* 

But, we finally redid it!

You can't see it in the pictures, but the ceiling has a glitter finish over the clouds. Emily and I both LOVE it!

A Domesticated Dinosaur.

 It all started quite sanely. I've been doing one of the photo of the day things on Instagram and once again had forgotten until just before bedtime that I needed to hurry up and snap a pic. It wasn't going to take too long to take a picture of a chair. That's a pretty easy topic. I thought I'd have a little fun with it and take a picture of a dollhouse chair or two.

Cute, huh?

Then it all rounded the bend....

You see, one day, the TARDIS appeared...

And a dinosaur escaped.

He brought muffins!

And lemonade!

T-Rexes just love pizza.

Look at the fluffed pillows!

AND they're great babysitters.

Oh, and I was wrong. After all this awesomeness, the topic was "Under." Chair is tomorrow's topic.

And now it's time for me to go to bed. Probably should have gone about an hour ago...

The Lost Blog

 Last night, I painstakingly typed out a post on my phone. This is no easy task for me, as I have the very long fingers of a pianist, but without the elegant coordination. Think baby giraffe taking it's first steps. That's how I live life. It's a wonder I'm not a walking bruise. But this is beside the point. The point is, I wrote this long, long blathering post about home-made marshmallow pops, and it was all lost. I think making the marshmallows was easier than writing the post. At least I got a sweet little snack out of that. Which I couldn't eat. Because I've been on a diet...


Oh, mommyhood.

My Little Pony Hats

 I know I've mentioned this before, but Emmy LOVES horses. Lately there's been a shift from really horses to the fantasy sort- unicorns pegasuses (Pegasi?) multicolored ponies. My Little Pony. Seriously, I walk around everyday with that song stuck in my head. It was only a matter of time before I busted out the yarn to make some pony hats.

 Of course, there are six mane (hahahaha, aren't I clever??) ponies, so I couldn't really stop at just one, could I? No, why that would be normal and not OCD at all.

                                                                             Rarity

Twilight Sparkle

Twilight Sparkle again

 I made a Fluttershy hat too, but the hair is all wrong. It really needs to be a lot longer. So, I'll post pictures of her when she's done. Next up will be Rainbow Dash and if I can find the right shade of orange, Applejack.

I think I overused the word "pony" in the post. 

Pony.

Halloween Wrap Up

 I probably should have posted this before Halloween. Ah, but that is why I'm not a famous blogger, I suppose. Anyway, I made our costumes again this year.

Emily was The Flash!

And of course, The Flash would need a really awesome matching Trick or Treat bag...

Her friend Wonder Woman got an awesome bag, too.

And I went as Amy Farrah Folwer. ... Not sure you want to see that.

Pottery Barn for Less

 I was crazy about this canopy the moment I saw it in the Pottery Barn Kid's catalogue. Emmy's bedroom has a sort of whimsical garden theme going on, so I immediately started imagining how oh-so cute her bed would look with this little woodland canopy hanging over it. 

Then I saw the price tag.

$99. Plus shipping. It's since been knocked down to $58, but that's still a lot of money for a wreath and some tulle.

So I went out and bought my own wreath and my own tulle. Two five-yard pieces of tulle to be exact. In total, it cost about $12.

I broke out the glue gun and glued A LOT. 

I used ribbon and an eye-screw to hang it from the the ceiling.

 (Pay no attention to the walls. We haven't painted them yet!)

And there you have it. A $99 wreath for twelve bucks. Not too shabby!