First Giveaway!!!

I'm so excited!! 

Amanda Darscheid-- You are the winner of my first giveaway!!! 

I downloaded this app that generates random numbers....that was interesting! My hubby helped me decide how I would count and then we pushed the magic button! 

Because I love all of my awesome followers--if you really want one of my pocket tees, I will make them for $15 for just you guys for the next 7 days! 

On Another Note....

I had a crazy, busy weekend! I came home to oh....16 shirt orders on Friday afternoon! That is awesome! Well, not awesome for the hubby and kids.....but wahoo!  I was able to work on a shirt for a sweet, baby girl. I managed to make a couple shirts for the 100th day of school for some ladies at work. (They were THE devil!) The first one took me about 3 hours. 

Baby girl onesie! 

Greek!!!! 

Loving this geo print!

This needs red on it! I guess I could change the shade of red for my Bama and Gamecock friends!  

Cute...but NOT nice!  

Oh Yeah!!!!

So everyone always asks me how I get all of this mess done.......

Well, the answer is I don't get EVERYTHING done! 

Here is proof. 

This here is about 6 loads of clothes! Lance decided he would be slick and strike a little deal with me on the laundry. He totally made this deal without realizing that I had these four baskets stashed away out of sight. Needless to say, my end of the deal only took about 10 minutes....and his end of the deal had him up for hours!!!!! I could not stop laughing....seriously, I almost peed my pants when he saw all of this! 

I woke up the next morning to see......

....and by the time I came home from work it was all put away! Don't think I won't be revisiting that little deal again!! 

I am pondering ideas for the girls Valentine's Day cards. Last year, I did super cutesy ones with Addi holding the sucker. I'm not thinking I have too much extra time to mess with this year and have been looking for cute, easy ones. There is an app called Red Stamp on my iPhone and I LOVE it! 

I made these two in about 5 seconds, saved the pic and I can print it at Sam's for 13 cents each! Not too shabby! 

On another note, Lance caught me really being a multitasking mommy the other night. I was upstairs sewing and drying the girls' hair! 

I can't tell you how ready I am for Friday. This week has been extremely long for some reason. Maybe that awesome Wednesday, where the buses didn't pick the kids up until almost 6pm. I'm just thankful it wasn't me in the rain dismissing all of them. Bless those peeps! 

Fun times! 

Bring it On!

Lance has been out of town since Monday and this week has been an adventure....to say the least. I learned to juggle a whole lot of madness that is for sure! I have to be at work at 7am each day and that is when Sofie's daycare opens....the problem is, it is 30 minutes away from my work. If you are in the teaching profession, you realize that our job has absolutely NO flexibility. Luckily, we have our meetings/planning time in the mornings, so I managed to pull off kid # 2 delivery. I normally wake up at 5am to get myself and Addi ready each day. I did the math, and it only took me 1 hour and 40 minutes to get all three of us dressed, teeth brushed and hair flat ironed. I'm pretty sure Sofie's hair has looked the best this week that it has all year! I have been counting down the days/hours until Lance is supposed to be home....and then tag, your it! Last night, I was thrown a slight curve ball. At 2am Sofie woke me up throwing up....in our bed. By 5am, I was completely beat down and had already started washing the third load of laundry. I had my mom watch the girls while I ran to school really fast to drop off sub plans, snacks and craft club materials. I am curious to see how the cross stitching went with the fifth graders today. Sofie bounced back pretty quick. She hasn't slowed down all day! She has been pretty whiney. I am guessing from the lack of sleep. She wanted to go to school SO bad today. She cried because today was pajama day and she was missing out. Poor girl! She was actually mad at me for not taking her. All the other parents can thank me for taking one for the team there! The stomach bug is one virus that don't play and I don't want anyone sharing that mess with my family if they can help it! 

With Lance out of town, I haven't been able to get much done in the sewing room. I worked really hard on Monday morning before he left. I was very thankful for an extra day off work Mr. MLK. I created a really cute Valentine outfit for my cutie patootie little niece. 

I was able to put the finishing touches on my cute signs! 

Surprisingly, I still haven't got tired of making these monogrammed pocket tees. I guess that each one is so different it doesn't bother me. I have made some really pretty ones! I might end up with one for everyday of the week before this is all said and done. This cute shirt will be used for spirit wear at our school! 

Don't forget that I will be giving away one of the pocket tees on January 31st to one of my awesome followers. I am almost to my monthly goal of 25 this month......so help me out! 

Time to relax for a few minutes before I fall asleep! Nothing like the smell and sound of a fire burning on a cold, cold day! 

Family Time

This week has definitely put some things into perspective for me. It was a tough week at work. I ended up having multiple conferences for a variety of different reasons. With close to 30 kids in my classroom, I should be on the phone constantly dealing with different issues. Unfortunately for the kids in my class, I usually tend to give some of my free time to my own children at home. I left school Friday with a very heavy heart. It is the first time I have truly been worried about a kiddo. Parents....please make sure you give your kids a big hug each and every day and tell them how much you love them. Even when they screw up!!! 

On the flip side of this coin, make sure you teach them to respect you and others. If you start by teaching your child this when they are young, your job as a parent will be much more manageable later on in life. I know I only have two children....and they are only 3 and 4, but trust me....I have seen many, many kids come through my room. You better believe I pay attention to the parents when I see the good ones come through. I have asked parents many of times during conferences how they did 'things'. As a parent, you should want the absolute best for your child. I know that I am constantly reflecting on how I deal with situations. I am by no means perfect, but I feel like I am a pretty good parent most of the time. I know that I am real with my kids. When my girls mess up, they need consequences. Consequences at their age means they might get a spanking, lose a toy, sit in time out. If you don't take the time to show them what consequences are....then one day the legal system will! Wouldn't you much rather them learn these things when you are dealing with minor consequences? 

1) If your child gets a zero on an assignment because they didn't complete the assignment, this is not the teacher's fault. The child should get punished for not doing the work. This lesson will help them get a job one day and allow them to provide for their family. 

2) Never tolerate disrespect from your child when you are having a conversation with them. One day they will be bigger than you. Do you want them in your face then?! 

3) Reward your child when they own up to their mistakes. Everyone messes up. That is okay. When you see them own a mistake and change from it....the lesson is learned. What you don't want is them deflecting everything onto someone else....aka making excuses. 

4) When your kid is going through a tough time....when everything seems to be wrong all the time, look for something, anything positive to focus on. They need a glimmer of hope to look forward to....and so do you! 

Ok...off my soap box for a little while! We had promised the girls that we would take them to Chuck E. Cheese after school on Friday. Family date night was a huge success! The girls used their gift cards from Christmas to buy their tokens. We ended up spending an hour or so playing games and picking out junk from the prize counter. Thank you Nona for the gift cards....they were much better than another toy! 

After we left Chuckie's, we went out for some yummy frozen yogurt at Menchie's! I think this might be one of my favorite places! The girls crack me up with all the junk they pile onto their yogurt. I am pretty weird about textures and mixing things, so I usually stick with one or two toppings. The girls pile in 10-12 different things! 

I got up early Saturday morning and started in on my crafting mess. I had several Etsy orders that I needed to get out before the holiday. Can I tell you what a blessing Etsy has been this month?! Normally, I am flat busted on extra cash after the holiday season. This year I have definitely been blessed with a steady stream of orders. 

This may be my most favorite shirt ever! I will def be making myself one of these! 

These will be gifts for a bachelorette party. My friend owes be BIG time! 

This was another example of me wondering how something was going to turn out and then being pleasantly surprised! 

I kinda like this funky pattern! 

I have a mile long list of other things I MUST get finished before lunch tomorrow, but that will just have to wait! 

We all cheered on the Falcons today....even though our efforts were not rewarded! 

Maybe next time! 

It has been a great weekend spent with the people that I love the most! 

Don't forget...there is only 11 more days to join this blog for a chance to win a free monogrammed pocket tee! You can't do it from a mobile device, so hop on your computer and follow! 

Confession

So when I talked about my New Year's resolutions....I may have left one out! I am actually really good at organizing things, especially things that are important to me. My husband is always giving me a hard time about too many bottles in the shower, too much stuff on the counter top in my bathroom, etc. Well, I have to admit that I MAY have a little problem! He thinks that I am rubbing off on the girls and that they are going to be just like me. 

So let me defend myself for a second! The housekeeper took every bottle in the bathroom and put into the shower. There is normally not THIS many in here! The loofah factory belongs to the girls. I am responsible for 8 of the shampoo/conditioner bottles. I know....weird-o. I like to change shampoos daily. I have the normal cleanser, shaving cream, soap added to this mix. Lance told me he would buy me a new shirt if I could guess within 1 bottle how many were in the shower. I guessed 18 and he told me that I wasn't even close. There was 33!!!!! Holy cow! I may need some kind of AA meeting for too many bottles. 

Now on to the more productive things I have managed to do this weekend! 

Lots and lots of monogrammed pocket tees! I have several more that I will be working on tomorrow night. I did find some super cute new fabrics that I am excited to try out! 

I got to try out my new heart die that I found at Michael's. Now I will have to go back and change out the front piece on my necklace! 

So precious! Love! These will be available soon for $25 (includes 3 names)!

These will be available for $20 with 2 names.

I had another one of my moments where I didn't know how something was going to turn out. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised and may have to make one for myself! 

This is one of the flannel infinity scarves. My nickname for it is Colonel Mustard. It is a fabulous mustard color and looks absolutely amazing on black and navy blue. I had on a navy blue with white polka dot dress today and really wanted one of these when I held it up next to my dress. It would definitely add a great pop of color! 

WARNING TO GRANDMAS:

Ok....grandmas to my children. You should probably turn away at this point! 

Last chance.....your surprise it about to be ruined! 

These are 7inch by 12 inch canvases. I laid out and sewed on every one of these lovely buttons. I probably have an hour in each one of these. I have two done and at least two more to go. After sewing on all of the buttons, I painted Addi's hand red. She was the first to leave her handprint since she has the biggest hand. I let Sofie be pink since her's were a little smaller. After both of the colors had dried, I added the cute little purple heart to add more color. I plan to tie a red gingham ribbon bow to the top for them to hang. These turned out sooooo cute....I really want one of these too! 

Despite my bathroom hoarding tendencies....I did have a pretty productive weekend! 

Wash, Dry and Repeat

I feel like I am in the never ending cycle. I think I got a little spoiled being out of work for two and a half weeks. I get up and go to work, come home, get ready for the next day, go to sleep and start over the next day. I had extremely high expectations for myself last night and it just didn't happen! So tonight I tried to make up for it. 

Remember the cute metal tag necklaces that I blew my Hobby Lobby gift cards for? Well, I ended up making one for a co-worker for her birthday and she loved it. I was a little frustrated when I first made my necklace. You spend all this time punching out each individual letter and then I thought I had ruined it when I put the dye in the letters. You squirt just a tiny bit of alcohol ink and then wipe off the excess really quickly. As you can see in the picture below....when you rub off the excess, it also discolored the rest of the metal. Well.....not really! In just a couple of hours, the metal will be back to it's old tarnished self. I just love these! 

This is right after I punched the letters and stained them.

This is what it looks like once I put them all together. 

Crazy good find! I had mine on a regular brass looking chain. When I went to pick up the chain for my friend, I saw the leather necklaces. I had to have one too, of course! This changed the whole look of the necklace and I like it even more! 

Leather necklace <3 

On our Saturday date night, I swindled my hubby into dropping by Hobby Lobby for this one fabric that I had to have. Needless to say, they didn't have the fabric I needed....but they had several that I wanted! I ended up buying a black and white striped jersey knit. You would think I would've learned my lesson about that stupid jersey knit after the scarves I tried. I have made 100 scarves from scratch, I swear......but that stinking jersey has to be the most annoying fabric I have ever worked with. I still haven't finished the scarves and they may never get finished (sorry Laurin). 

Side note.....I dream about things that I have to get done. I make lists in my sleep. Weird....I know. Productive sleep----that's what I call it! 

So I bought that material (jersey-black/white) on Saturday. Sunday night I had a dream about a skirt I wanted to make with it. On Monday, I had planned to come right home and get to that. Then I remembered how much I dislike that stuff. So....I begged my mom to come help me. When she came over tonight, I begged her to create what I drew for her on paper. She totally did it! Of course, I had to cut it out and throw in a helping hand occasionally. (And I had to monogram a scarf and blanket in return :) This is what we came up with! 

This is my idea of measuring how big around it should be. Kinda looks like a beach towel at this point!

This is the strips I cut...they would later be the ruffles on the bottom. There is 4 strips that are 1 and 1/2 yard long. 

After cutting everything out, Mom closed the skirt to make it look like a tube. Then she put a wide band of elastic in the top of it. I told her to not bother hemming anything, because the unfinished edge on jersey just rolls and it looks cute by itself. That may be the ONE and ONLY good thing about this fabric! Mom then gathered the 4 long strips to make the ruffles for the bottom. 

This is my cutie skirt that I want to wear tomorrow! 

She used two of the mile long strips to complete the bottom row of ruffles and then two more for the top row of ruffles. The ruffles aren't even turned under or anything. She just laid them on the fabric and sewed right over them. It gives it a little more character and turned out super cute! I plan to wear it tomorrow with my awesome black Frye boots, a black tank top and my denim jacket. I just hope it looks as cute on as I envision it! 

While my mom, was slaving away on my cute skirt.....I was working on Etsy orders. Sometimes you get this uneasy feeling when creating things for others. Someone placed an order and they give you all of the specifics....what color shirt, fabric for the pocket, and font color. When I started putting this together, I had this ughhhh feeling. I must say, as bad as I thought this shirt would be, it turned out really cute. 

These cutie patootie shirts are headed for Virginia tomorrow! Every time I make another one of these, I tell myself that I need one of them! I have made a ton of these and I still don't have one for myself. I may have to do something about that! 

It is now officially 45 minutes past my school night bedtime. Today has been one heck of a crazy, productive day. It is report card time at work. I printed comments today, folded and stuffed all those envelopes, got all of my awards ready to go. Tomorrow is awards day. Two quarters down, two more to go. I can do this! 

I want to say thank you to everyone reading my blog. You guys are awesome! In two short months, this project has came a long way. I have my goal in mind...and I will get there! I have 7 new followers in just a couple days. I know I can reach my 25 by the end of the month. I can't wait to create one of these cute shirts for one of my fabulous readers! 

Resolutions....Room for Improvement

Resolutions have never been a big thing for me. I think you can/should make changes everyday. I am a goal person and now is as good as any to get started! I have a personal goal in which I would like to increase (one day replace) my income by $1000 a month through crafts/blogging/teacher stuff. I think this is a very realistic goal....but a challenge nonetheless. 

#1 Save some money!

A couple of years ago, Lance and I took the Dave Ramsey class. It is amazing! If you have the opportunity to take it, it will change your life. We are still not where we want to be financially, but we have made progress and our way of thinking has changed dramatically. According to Dave, we should not technically be saving because we still have outstanding debts. However, I would like for my family to see a vacation before my kids are grown and out of the house.......thus I must save! My stepmom has been saving all of her $5 bills and has accumulated over $400 in a relatively short amount of time of a few months. I like this idea. Another idea is the 52 Week Challenge.... I found this visual on my Facebook feed. 

#2 Get my Etsy shop updated

I have so many craft ideas that I would love to share and market to others. Unfortunately, some things are just complicated to package and ship. I added 3 different items and was surprised to sell 3 things in the first 12 hours! So awesome! These shirts have been a huge hit. You can check out my Etsy shop here!

#3 Start adding more things to my TeacherspayTeachers site

It takes forever to add one item to this website. At least, it takes me forever! I have kept up with all of the common core novel studies for 5th grade and these have done great on here. I had all of my 2nd grade stuff just sitting on a jump drive, so I went back and have slowly 

started adding it. Check out my TpT website here.

#4 Continue improving my eating habits in hopes of losing a few more pounds

I have dramatically improved my eating habits in the last year. Before I had children, it wasn't uncommon for me to eat 4,000-6,000 calories a day and never gain weight. After having the girls, things just didn't work the same way. I was 115 pounds when I got married in 2005. I had always wanted to gain 10 pounds and thought I would be happy at 125. That was my mental happy number. After having Sofie, I weighed 148. I have managed to get that down to 133 with the help of a 12 week boot camp and managing my portions and food choices. I am now aware of everything I am eating and I know what is going into my body. I don't always make good choices, but I know when I am making a bad one now. I want to somehow find time to be more physically active whether it be walking or running. I would like to see myself a little more disciplined when it comes to eating. Let's face it, I am a junk/fast food junkie. I NEED to leave it alone! 

#5 Spend quality time with the FAM

I get so wrapped up in everything that I have going, and I sometimes miss out on the little things around my house. I don't want to look back and feel like I missed my girls growing up. I plan to limit my crafting to 2, maybe 3 nights a week. No more, every night in front of the sewing machine! 

#6 Last, but not least I want to build the followers on this blog! 

I would like to gain a minimum of 25 each month. I think this is do-able and would be really happy if I happen to exceed that! Each month on the last day, I plan to do a drawing from my followers and do a quick little giveaway to help add some incentive. I am thinking one of the cute pocket tees would be a great start! So on January 31st.... I will be drawing my first winner! How do you follow me? Look on the right side of your screen (you must be on a real laptop or computer) where you see Followers and click join! I know if you are reading from a phone or iPad you can't see this. Show your support and help a girl out! 

I am looking forward to sharing my life with you throughout 2013! Thank you for your support!  Don't forget that comments and feedback is always welcome! 

Neglect

Dear Blog, 

I am so sorry that I have been neglecting you! I have been super busy playing mom and finding ways to escape my school work. I made a quick trip to the outlet mall this morning and found a few fabulous deals on dresses to wear with my new awesome boots. The girls convinced me to open the Burns Nail Salon tonight. One wanted polka dots, the other wanted stripes and glitter. They are a little on the demanding side. After we closed down the nail salon, I sat and watched Fern Gully with the girls. Love that movie! 

I did manage to get one productive thing accomplished. I monogrammed three burp cloths for a gift set. As soon as I get the cutesy trim on, I will post them! I also ventured over to the dark side and managed to make a tutu for Elfie. Lance officially thinks I am psycho! What is wrong with Elf Couture?! 

Lance told me he wanted to see Elfie in some more manly attire. So I guess the tutus will go to Razi and Amelia. 

Make sure you stay posted for "Big Pimpin' Elfie" later! 

I must start getting the Burns girls back on schedule. The girls have been sleeping in until 8:30am and going to sleep around 9:30-10. Next week will be a rude awakening! I have been staying up until 1am myself and sleeping in until 8-9am. 5am will really stink come Monday. 

Did I mention that I have watched a Guilianna and Bill marathon tonight? It started with the episode where they had their baby. I think I officially have baby fever now! When we started trying to have a baby with Addi, it happened almost immediately. I was in shock because I just expected it to be months of trying. Then with Sofie, I think I was pregnant the 2nd month. It was ridiculous. Now we put off starting to try because it was so quick with the girls. It has been about 5 months now and still no prego. I don't know what to think about this baby business. I guess welcome to the real world! I know it is in God's hands....and I should just be patient. 

Once I get back in school, I promise to be more loyal with my writing!