Winners!

Thanks to ALL of you for entering the little giveaway -I wish I could all send you home with a pair of earrings AND a hot pad.
But as it stands…

CASSY B. will be going home with the earrings and

JULIE S. will be going home with the hot pad!

Cassy, email me at storyladyblog@yahoo.com and we’ll get the earrings to you ASAP. Julie, text me :)

I’ve made a goal for myself to make one hot pad a day (Sundays excepting) until the boutique. They’ve all turned out okay so far, but last night… oh my goodness. Let me start out by saying that I went a little crazy yesterday. I started my day off by letting Jillian Michaels rant at me about how there IS NO MODIFICATION of a crunch and that IF I WANTED flat abs I would have to WORK for them. It’s not my favorite thing to do, but it’s the price I have to pay for the holidays. Then I pulled my hair back and set to cleaning my house. I don’t know what it was, but something in me really pushed me to finish. Maybe it was Remnants o’ Jillian, but I’m thinking it was more just me REALLY wanting to be done. The second I finished, I went a little craft crazy. As I cleaned my house, it felt so naked. It needed something… and since I took down all of Christmas last week, my house has felt a little barren.
So I started making Valentine’s Day decor.

When I took the trash out, I noticed a bunch of pieces of wood sitting in the back of my husband’s truck. It was all a little burned in places, so I hauled a piece inside and asked him if I could have it. He said “yeah, it’s just trash.”
I primed it.
I pained it white.
I sanded it.
And with a little help from clip art and mod podge…

When I was done, it didn’t look like trash anymore. Well, at least not to me. My husband might have still thrown it away.
But I just love it.

There’s bubbles in it because I was in such a rush, but I kind of like them. I usually don’t, but it somehow works with this project. In the middle of making the little valentine board, I started hacking away at the burlap I used for Lacy’s party. I cut the two pieces down to about the same size, cut a piece of a sheet I keep around for scraps down a little smaller, free-handed the word “LOVE” with a sharpie on the sheet piece, and then I made a pillow.

Oh yeah, and I bent a wire hanger into a heart. I was going to cover it and use it to make a wreath, but gosh darn it if I didn’t just fall in love with it just the way it is.
The set up isn’t complete, mind you. I’m painting a big board for the wire heart to hang on, and I crocheting a few heart garlands and such.
In the middle of all this ruckus, I also hacked up my Halloween costume and made it into an apron for The Jane Collection. I took a few liberties and titled yesterday’s apron “The Jane Cleaver.”
Her name was JANE, right? *wink*
No pictures of this baby, but let me just say: she’s rearry cute if you’re into clothes from the early 60s.

As the day wore into late afternoon and then evening, I put everything away and started boiling potatoes for dinner. My husband had some steaks to grill, and I went outside to take down our Christmas lights which were supposed to have come down earlier yesterday, but Senor PS3 was invited to stay… and wore out his welcome with the little wife.
Okay, the BIG wife. But let’s not quibble over terminology.

Half the lights were taken down, three crafts were started and completed, the house was deep cleaned, dinner was made, Family Home Evening was had, and by the time we all gathered on the couch to watch The Smurfs, I had reached my limit… my own fault, really.
But I HAD to make a hot pad.
I promised myself.
So I did, and thanks to my exhaustion, I kicked out the UGLIEST hot pad you have EVAH seen. Yellow center, forest green around, purple backing… in my head it was much more adorable. But how much of a head did I have left last night? Answer: nothing worth anything.
Never trust a tired head.
Here’s hoping today’s hot pad can redeem the two hours I wasted last night making one I’ll PAY someone to take home.

Also: here’s hoping I don’t fall and crack my head open today while we go ice skating. It’s Lacy’s birthday wish come true.
The ice skating.
Not the Mom cracking her head open. Although…