This WONDERfilled Life...

It's Sunday morning and as usual I am starting my timer for my blog writing.  I've been trying to limit myself to one hour for writing.  If I don't I'll just blather on and keep editing things...however since last night was MISERABLE (sleep training and sickness) in our house I might just give myself an extra 30 minutes. PROJECT #1 | Mama Claire pattern hack to deep "V" neck I told you last week that I made a new shirt late Sunday night.  It was a hack I had been thinking about since Week 4 .  I love Made for Mermaids', Mama Claire , but still haven't decided if the cross front makes the most sense for me...but other than that feature it's a great fit. So I got to work hacking it into a deep v neck shirt. Altering the pattern was so simple....ready? Fold the front pattern piece in half.  That's it! Since it is a cross top the sides are meant to match/meet up so instead of cutting two mirror images of the front piece and then matching the

Remember last Sunday when I talked about out of a failure can, in fact, come success? Well I wasn't just talking "crafting".  One of the reasons I started the #52wonderfilledweeks challenge was to force myself into action.  We're all guilty of talking big talk, I have X, Y and Z plans...blah blah blah but how often do we actually take action? Not as often as we should I think.  I love thinking up ideas, and when it isn't music related for some reason I am really good at putting those ideas into action.  In fact the farther the idea is from me personally (i.e., I won't personally gain - or lose- from it) I am THE girl to put things into action.  For example I joined the local Park Advisory Council (PAC) last fall...let's keep in mind I have two small children and a full time job as a free lance hornist...and yet at the first, FIRST, meeting I ever attended I suggested and then volunteered to organize a giant holiday craft fair.  What was I thinking? Well

Wow! This week was hard...and it shouldn't have been.  But it serves as a great example of why I gave myself this challenge.  It is so easy when the going gets rough to just get going...on something else! HA! But what I love about challenging myself is it forces me to finish what I started, so as Tim Gunn says, "Make it work!!". I felt at every turn this week I was in a "Make it work!" moment, both in the craft AND horn studio (more on that in a separate post)! This week was Valentines and until this year my oldest had no idea what that meant, but this year she understood the concept of Valentines and giving out "treats" to her friends.  Her school held a Valentines Party and I knew we would have to hand out cards...what I didn't anticipate is what an event this has turned into since I was a kid.  Hold on, lemme pull out my soap box....when I was a kid you handed out cards...that's it.  I don't remember handing out candy...I remember look

Week 6! Can you believe it! Every time I think "oh crap what am I going to make this week" something comes up and a project presents itself. And this week's project is, in fact, a present! It's such an easy sew.  Straight lines only! And as a parent I find it to be a very useful gift.  I made one two years ago for my nephew but this time I actually wrote down what I did and I'm ready to lay it all out for you here!   What you will need: - Pack of color pencils, markers, or crayons - Sewing machine - Gross grain ribbon - Fabric,  I used a waterproof oxford, but a duck cloth would also work well.  Think durability.  This will hopefully be used by little balls of energy for a while and you want it to hold up.  I get my waterproof oxford from Sahara Fabrics .  Check out their oxford selection  here ! The first thing I did was test out how much space I needed for my color pencil in the roll.  I wanted the pencil to be snug but ea

Good snowy morning! We woke up this morning to a beautiful blanket of snow and couldn't be more excited. Last week I teased that I made some pretty luxurious birthday presents and I would show them off this week but I misplaced the file with the photos so I will have to hold off on that until I can locate those. It was a really busy week with some community organizing and I was worried that here in week 5 I would drop the ball on this challenge of mine but last night I mustered the energy to do a project that had been in my mind since Christmas. In 2011 my Mom bought me a Cricut Expression for my birthday. I've always considered my self a "crafter" and "sewer" but had never explored much the paper craft side of things. With the Expression in my crafting arsenal I was hooked. I used the machine for everything from cards to gift tags, decorations for a baby shower I hosted and my favorite thing, to cut stencils from freezer paper. The one draw back at t