Five on Friday

1.  So....  last week we had a snow storm that unexpectedly brought about 8 inches of heavy, wet snow in the space of a few hours.  I worked in the office that day, so I was up, showered, and out of the house around 6:30am, got my Starbucks and my pumpkin scone, and was sitting in the office when I heard Morgan's school had closed, there were busses in the ditch (with no kids on them, thankfully), and later, that my house didn't have power.

When I left the office around lunch time, I picked up coffee for Steve on the way home, because the power had gone out about 8am and I knew the kids were outside playing in snow, so I figured they might need coffee and hot chocolate to warm up.

At about 2:30 we all got tired of being without electricity.  I'm a girl who likes silence, but I had no idea how comforting the hum of electricity was.  Silence with no electricity is an uncomfortable silence.  I didn't like it.  After pondering ideas of things to do, I decided.....  "HEY!  Let's make a tutorial for Studio Calico!"  And out came the video camera.

I had planned to do a hand stitching tutorial with the WRMK Sew Easy tool already, so it worked out pefectly.

Things to note:

1.  How do you tell your husband to ZOOM OUT without coming across as a nag?  That is something I need help with.  heeeee.

2.  I am easily distracted.  So when I have one kid snaking my m&m's and the other throwing snowballs at the window, a mama can lose focus on what she was talking about.  Yes, we are having a snow ball.  pffft.

3.  When we bought our video camera, we had a new baby, and we paid @$900 for it.  So, even though it's now 7 years later and things are much improved, I am a girl with a hubby who doesn't want to purchase a new one, even though Flip camera's are at Costco for $129.  I'm still working on him.  That said....  the video on the camera looks fine.  It also looked fine in my video program.  But somehow the transfer to YouTube looks terrible, and for that I apologize.  You didn't really want a clear, close up look at that hangnail, did you?  No, probably not.

4.  My hubby was filming me, and I was talking about hand stitching.  Awkward. 

5.  I think the fact that Payton ended up eating all my m&m's deserves it's own bullet point. 

With that, here's a video tutorial on the WRMK Sew Easy tool, as well as some hand stitching.
 
Please let me know if you need something clarified, have a question about my technique, etc., or would like future tutorials, zoomed out, and in clear form.  I'm all ears.




In general, I am only going to post craft related videos and tutorials on this account, so if you want to click the link at YouTube and follow me you will get a notification email when a new video is posted.  I don't know how often that will be but, you know, just in case....  :)

2.  Speaking of crafting, today is the 25th.  That means you have 3 more days until Project 12 layouts are due.  If you are still wanting to play along, this month you need to link your layouts to this post. 

I had to break out my creative thinking cap, because I didn't take a lot of photos in January.  I was up to my neck in crafting and prepping my life for CHA, so as I looked through my digital files, all I was coming up with were layouts and closeups, lol.  The bright star to my month, though, happened to be my baby girl, who turned 7. 

With just two big events to summarize the crazy month, I modified the sketch a bit to use fewer photos:

Kelly was nice enough to share some photos taken with her camera at CHA, which worked perfectly to highlight that experience.  The two themes were so different that I was worried about what the design would look like, so to make it fun, I carried Payton across the layout and put her on the right, carrying forward the birthday theme.

 

This photo cracks me up.  Daily, all year long, my girls like to ask "how many days until my birthday", so that thought comes to me immediately as I look at this photo and her wearing her sister's birthday hat.  Her birthday is in March.  Not much longer!  Only 33 days, PJ!  :)

I took out a photo so I wanted to fill it with something fun.  Recognize these frames, and most of the other products, for that matter?  Yes, it's a previous kit from Studio Calico.  Baker's Dozen, to be exact.  I bought extras that month but haven't had a chance to use it all yet.  That's a blessing and a curse!  It means I have a backlog of stash, but it also means I get to play with Scenic Route, which I haven't seen in a while.

I had a lot of fun with this layout and really like how it turned out.  I like the changes Becky made for the sketch, and I'm doing something different with my titles this time too, taking more creative liberties each month.

3.  In two days, it'll be time to head to Studio Calico if you want to purchase March goodies.  April posted March prices and shop items on this thread.   In an effort to get the latest and greatest we are cutting it close with some goodies from Cosmo Cricket, etc., so watch that thread to see what we are able to get our hands on.  I am also in line for some of the goodies that are new to the shop.

4.  Tomorrow is the anniversary of my birth, lol.   I'm not really looking forward to it.  When I turned 30 I was 8 months pregnant with Payton.  Steve took me to dinner and I came home with heartburn.  heee.  On my 33rd birthday I broke my driver's side mirror on my way to work.  That means 7 years of bad luck.  Guess what day it'll be when that runs out?  oy.  So, there's a wee bit of dread in what tomorrow brings.  I'm just not ready yet.  When I was at my yearly physical my doctor told me that at the advanced maternal age of 35 they like to start weaning women off birth control pills, which led me to think "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME".  This is something I would expect to hear from my mother.  I'm just not ready to be hearing this type of talk directed at me.  A great big ugh.

5.  With that, I'm out.  After the kiddlets are in bed hubby and I are going to maybe rent a movie.  The Academy Awards are on Sunday night so I'm hoping to see something nominated.  Is Black Swan available On Demand?  hmmmmm.