21 years...

No crafty goodness today!  I just wanted to celebrate that after 21 years of smoking, I have been smoke free for one month now.  :)  I'm so excited because I never thought I could do it.  I've never even tried to quit before because well, I thought I enjoyed it, and that it calmed me.  Now I've discovered it was just something that cured my boredom and that I need to find other ways to do that.  I did find an article that I wish I would have found BEFORE I decided to quit..lol...  It is Dr. Oz's advice on how to quit..it seems like a much better idea then quitting cold turkey and eating everything in sight without a good habit to replace the bad!  He says that for the first 30 days..don't quit...start walking for 30 mins a day..replace the bad habit BEFORE you quit..(good idea man, I so could have used that before I replaced it with eating!)

So now that I know I have more willpower than I ever thought possible.  I shall move on during the second week of the new year, why the second week?  A) because I found out my hubbo's insurance might cover part of a health club monthly bill and it doesn't start til after the new year and have to have time to turn it in..and B)  I want all the new year's resolution peeps out of my way..because even though I've decided to do it now, it isn't a New Year's resolution..it's a from now on resolution..

I purposely quit smoking cold turkey right after Thanksgiving.  I wanted to do this during the hardest part of the year..the stress, the holidays, the food, because I knew if I could do it then...I could keep doing it...and I surprised myself.  I think I set myself up to fail on purpose..but actually succeeded.  What a nice surprise.  They say that only 2 - 3% of people who quit cold turkey are successful.  I've met 4 people that did it..so what a small world...I intend to join their club. 

Well, now it's time to reverse what I've done eating  in place of my smoking.  I can do it...I need to make time for exercise.  No more excuses.   I can say I don't have time..but I do.  I can make myself have time, just like I do for every other important thing that I take care of for my husband and kids and family.  I am just as important as they are.  And if I'm not well, I'm not doing them any good.  Time to get a little discipline in on myself...and start to feel good again...yay...wish me luck! 

Brownies in an Eggshell

So I just had to show you that it does work!  Even for a novice baker like me!  I will tell you that I made 7 and thought I had them all half full..but when I opened that one..lol it was hollow and only on the sides...umm oops!  So they came out of the oven a mess!  But I cleaned them all up with a damp washcloth like the lady says and fixed her right up!  Make your own here! 

And more stuff I've been doing!

Ok, now to make another lengthy post to catch up!  LOL!  So I made cookie boxes for my annual cookie exchange that I hostess with my BFF Mariah!  It's so fun each year and she is a FABULOUS party planner!

And I had to make some Santa Drawer Boxes that I bought the pattern for!  They are so much fun!!

and another birthday card I made with my Sweet Treats (or something like that) cartridge on my cricut!

It had to have a gift card holder so I made the cupcake open to hold the card!

Shew and now you are finally caught up with what I've been doing (well, except for the 12 dozen cookies I made today)  No pictures yet but here's the recipe if you are interested!!

Might be awhile..alot more crafting to do..so will catch up with you again soon!

Long time no posty! The holidays are here!!!

So it's been awhile since I've posted.  It's not that I've not been busy...just a lazy blogger!  Well, now you can catch up with me!

I made some gifties for my girls at work!  One has chickens at her house so I made her the chicken scratch posty note holder and an egg box to hold her office supplies and I'm going to try this out:
Brownies in Eggshells  We'll see if it makes me cry!  lol

And another girl at work that is all blingy!  So I found some quotes on pinterest I liked and re-created them for her blingy gift in my paint shop!

I also made some gifts the week before for a few more girls in the office (I do little things for all their birthdays, we are a small place so I can!)  I made these cute pie crust cookies and put them on mugs with these tags I made them!

Ok, since this is getting picturific, I will start another post with my other recent craftios!  LOL!

Enjoy!!

And the Vanilla Fun has begun!

Beginning to feel alot like Christmas!  Woot!  Let the gift idears begin!.......
Vanilla gifts in the making......extract and sugar...and later...some vanilla carmel sauce!

More Pumpkin Fun!!

I had to make a gift for a co-worker and lucky for her, her birthday is Monday, near Halloween!
I used this link for the anti-bac gift holder Dawn's fabulous anti-bac instructions  !!  Then I saw the cutest picture on http://www.pinterest.com/ (yes, you should join for free, it is tottally inspirational and addictive.  Thanks to Mariah for both this and the vampire teeth!!)

Pumpkin Fun!

Had to take a little time today to decorate the pumpkins!  Just saw the idear in pinterest.com and had to try it out!  Cut vinyl with my cricket in a cool font and stuck them on!

My monster ate my IPOD!

Yeah, so I see it's been FOREEEEVER since I've posted!  Bad me!!  But it's not that I haven't been busy.  Just had to share this adorable fun thing to make!  My daughter said she wanted a sock for her IPOD.  I found a tutorial here that I thought was cute:  Monster Ipod case.  My daughter has a sweatshirt from Hot Topic that looks like this:

except hers had nerd glasses..umm cute!  But I decided to use the above tutorial and make her this!!

I added one of those keyrings that open and close so she can clip her mini me on her when she wears her sweatshirt..was so fun!  Had to share!!

I'll try to post more now that the holidays are closing in!

Sock Monkey Cozie

On a cozie roll!  Saw a picture of this online and had to re-create it for my niece!  It was pretty fun and easy, now that I got all my parts figured out!

Another Project The **Scale** stitch scarf

OOOH!  I almost forgot this also!  I saw some beautiful scale stitch neckwarmer and scarves on Etsy and had to try this out also.  It's such a fun stitch, although I had to watch someone do it on youtube a few times to figure it out!  Here is a tutorial I found online  http://yarn-muse.blogspot.com/2011/01/crocodile-stitch.html  It creates such a lovely effect!  I need to buy some light mohair yarn and make a few but here is a few shots of my yarn I had on hand that I was trying it out with!