As many of you know I am not a consistent blogger. I mean the last time I blogged was over a year ago! That is pretty sad. Of course I have my excuses though honestly if I had really wanted to blog I could have. My main excuse is that I don't have the internet in my apartment. I would go to the library to use the internet and it was such a pain to write up my blog post beforehand and get the pictures all ready and put them on my jump drive and then drive to the library where the internet could be slow and I only had an hour to do all that I wanted to. Blogging definitely was not a priority. Sorry.
Well what makes today different? I now have a laptop! I can now go to the library or the apartment club house to use the internet. I get to spend as much time as I want to on the internet and my pictures go with me! Will this make a difference in my becoming a consistent blogger? I hope so.
I feel like I need a fresh start, so I am starting a new blog. Thus we are saying goodbye to Our Own Little Corner and hello to My Own Little Corner. Notice the big difference in the titles? ;o) So come visit me at My Own Little Corner. Make sure to say hi!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Craft Warehouse Scrapbook Design Team 2010
On April 14th I got the awaited phone call around 4pm that I had made it onto the Craft Warehouse Scrapbook Design Team! I know that I sounded like a dork on the phone but I was so excited and wasn’t sure if I should accept politely or start jumping up and down and scream with excitement. :o)
I had decided last year after making it on the honorable mention list to try out for the team again this year. I thought my chances would be greater since I would get at least two months to work on my entry instead of the two days I had last year. Luckily I was sent an email the day the contest started so I didn’t forget about it.
Coming up with the card and layout ideas came pretty easily for the most part but I had a really hard time deciding on a project. I spent three hours up at the Craft Warehouse in Salem and didn’t really come up with any ideas! While visiting my parents for spring break I paid the Vancouver Craft Warehouse a visit with my mom. My mom fell in love with a box that you put together to hold recipes. It looked like it had a lot of possibilities but it cost $20.00 and I had already spent a lot of money on everything else. Well my mom’s excitement rubbed off on me and I bought it along with a new paper line that I had fallen in love with.
I spent the next couple of days painting all the parts of the box brown and then sealing it with a matte finish varnish. It took those couple of days to figure out what I was even going to do with it! The box comes with five wooden dividers and so I decided to do something with the five senses. So each divider is one of the senses and then behind each divider I put pictures that show some of my favorite things that have to do with that sense. I attached journaling paper to the back of each picture so I could write a description about it. Seemed like an idea that would work.
Well the Monday before it was due was the day that I was planning on finishing it so I could get the pictures of my projects in the mail on Tuesday hoping that would be enough time for it to reach it’s destination by Friday. I was stressed and everything seemed to be going wrong. I basically decided it wasn’t worth it after all and was getting ready to head back to bed. My dear husband started to encourage me and even stayed home from school to sit by me as I worked on it. He helped with measuring and cutting pieces of paper to size. I honestly wouldn’t have completed it without him!
I feel so blessed to have made the team and I’m very excited to be challenged with new product. And of course I’m excited for the goodies that I’ll be sent for my personal use. My bio and project pictures can be found on the Craft Warehouse website.
I had decided last year after making it on the honorable mention list to try out for the team again this year. I thought my chances would be greater since I would get at least two months to work on my entry instead of the two days I had last year. Luckily I was sent an email the day the contest started so I didn’t forget about it.
Coming up with the card and layout ideas came pretty easily for the most part but I had a really hard time deciding on a project. I spent three hours up at the Craft Warehouse in Salem and didn’t really come up with any ideas! While visiting my parents for spring break I paid the Vancouver Craft Warehouse a visit with my mom. My mom fell in love with a box that you put together to hold recipes. It looked like it had a lot of possibilities but it cost $20.00 and I had already spent a lot of money on everything else. Well my mom’s excitement rubbed off on me and I bought it along with a new paper line that I had fallen in love with.
I spent the next couple of days painting all the parts of the box brown and then sealing it with a matte finish varnish. It took those couple of days to figure out what I was even going to do with it! The box comes with five wooden dividers and so I decided to do something with the five senses. So each divider is one of the senses and then behind each divider I put pictures that show some of my favorite things that have to do with that sense. I attached journaling paper to the back of each picture so I could write a description about it. Seemed like an idea that would work.
Well the Monday before it was due was the day that I was planning on finishing it so I could get the pictures of my projects in the mail on Tuesday hoping that would be enough time for it to reach it’s destination by Friday. I was stressed and everything seemed to be going wrong. I basically decided it wasn’t worth it after all and was getting ready to head back to bed. My dear husband started to encourage me and even stayed home from school to sit by me as I worked on it. He helped with measuring and cutting pieces of paper to size. I honestly wouldn’t have completed it without him!
I feel so blessed to have made the team and I’m very excited to be challenged with new product. And of course I’m excited for the goodies that I’ll be sent for my personal use. My bio and project pictures can be found on the Craft Warehouse website.
Hooked on Crochet
I first learned to crochet from Lynette Anderson. She was my Merry Miss teacher in Primary. Lynette offered the class to teach us to crochet. I thought it sounded like fun and so had my mom drive me to her house at the appointed time. My family had just recently moved to Battle Ground, WA and was still getting used to driving around in the country. We got lost to say the least. By the time we finally arrived at the Anderson’s house all the other girls were gone and my mother was in tears. (Turns out we only lived about 8 minutes away but it took us over an hour to find it.) Lynette still took the time to get me started on a washcloth.
Well as time passed I became best friends with Lynette’s oldest daughter Kari and our mother’s became best friends too. I finished my washcloth (I still have it) and moved on to crocheting a heart shaped rug. I entered it into the fair and actually got a pretty high up ribbon for it. Boy was I surprised!
Well some more time passed by and it wasn’t until I was in college that Lynette tried to help me start an afghan. She crocheted a square for me so that I would know what it was supposed to look like and left me with instructions and the supplies. Sad to say that I didn’t get much farther on it. I was lost and no one around me knew how to crochet. I gave up on it.
A few more years passed by and I didn’t give crocheting much thought until I saw books at the craft store that had the cutest crocheted stuffed animals. I started to feel a longing to do it once again but thought it would be way too hard. I even remember seeing a scrapbook page of someone who made a goal to learn to crochet amigurumis over the summer. If only I could.
My mother-in-law is an avid crotchetier and occasionally would mail us some cute things she had crocheted. While visiting Tom’s family over this last Christmas break and seeing my mother-in-law and sister-in-law crochet really gave me the desire to relearn. Tom’s Mom was all for helping me. We looked online for an easy pattern for a cute scarf and then headed to Michaels to pick out some yarn and hooks. I was sooo excited! At first the hook and yarn felt weird in my hands but I soon got the hang of making chains and single crocheting as I practiced.
Before I even left Utah I had more than 15 books on hold at my local library all about crocheting. A couple of the books contained amigurumis patterns. I decided to give a water bottle holder a try. I had never tried to crochet in rounds and was a little nervous. I think it took me about 10 tries before I finally got the hang of how to even start it. I have found that I love crocheting in rounds!
I’m now addicted to crocheting amigurumis! I’m constantly thinking of who I could make one for. :o) Here are some of the favorites that I’ve made so far:
Well as time passed I became best friends with Lynette’s oldest daughter Kari and our mother’s became best friends too. I finished my washcloth (I still have it) and moved on to crocheting a heart shaped rug. I entered it into the fair and actually got a pretty high up ribbon for it. Boy was I surprised!
Well some more time passed by and it wasn’t until I was in college that Lynette tried to help me start an afghan. She crocheted a square for me so that I would know what it was supposed to look like and left me with instructions and the supplies. Sad to say that I didn’t get much farther on it. I was lost and no one around me knew how to crochet. I gave up on it.
A few more years passed by and I didn’t give crocheting much thought until I saw books at the craft store that had the cutest crocheted stuffed animals. I started to feel a longing to do it once again but thought it would be way too hard. I even remember seeing a scrapbook page of someone who made a goal to learn to crochet amigurumis over the summer. If only I could.
My mother-in-law is an avid crotchetier and occasionally would mail us some cute things she had crocheted. While visiting Tom’s family over this last Christmas break and seeing my mother-in-law and sister-in-law crochet really gave me the desire to relearn. Tom’s Mom was all for helping me. We looked online for an easy pattern for a cute scarf and then headed to Michaels to pick out some yarn and hooks. I was sooo excited! At first the hook and yarn felt weird in my hands but I soon got the hang of making chains and single crocheting as I practiced.
Before I even left Utah I had more than 15 books on hold at my local library all about crocheting. A couple of the books contained amigurumis patterns. I decided to give a water bottle holder a try. I had never tried to crochet in rounds and was a little nervous. I think it took me about 10 tries before I finally got the hang of how to even start it. I have found that I love crocheting in rounds!
I’m now addicted to crocheting amigurumis! I’m constantly thinking of who I could make one for. :o) Here are some of the favorites that I’ve made so far:
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Dear Santa,
I hope that you and Mrs. Claus have had an excellent year. You deserve it!
I have been a pretty good girl this year. It's true that I've been on the selfish side, have gotten a tad jealous and don't always treat Tom the way he deserves. But I am trying to do better. I'm hoping in spite of my imperfections that I've made your Nice list. :o)
Oh and before I forget...thank you so much for last year's gifts. I think it was one of my best Christmases yet! Though I think most of that was because my whole family was home and we didn't have any arguing. A true Christmas miracle!
As to the things that I would like to see under the tree (or nearby would be fine) this year:
1. 52 More Scrapbooking Challenges by Elizabeth Kartchner- always looking for new ideas to scrapbook
2. A Walmart Gift Card- yep again! I'm constantly ordering photos.
3. Wives & Daughters on DVD- such a good movie!
4. North & South on DVD- what can I say? Elizabeth Gaskell knows where it's at!
5. Move Over Darling on DVD- Doris Day is my favorite!
6. Pillow Talk on DVD- a must have for my Doris Day collection.
7. The Doris Day Show Season 1- such a good season! Way better than the ones to follow.
8. My Parent's Entertainment Center- now this shouldn't be too hard to get. Just get them a new one that will look great in their family room with their flat screen TV. I would also need you to encourage my dad to drive their old one down to Eugene. May take a little work, but I know you can do it!
9. Calamity Jane Soundtrack- now there are two out there, and I want the one that includes the song By The Light of the Silvery Moon.
10. A Laptop with Wireless Capabilities- I could then take it to the library and not have to wait to get on a computer! I could also use it for more than an hour. (Maybe I could mooch off of other peoples' wireless- but would that put me on your naughty list?)
11. To test positive- and no not for any diseases.
12. Sue Barton Nurse Books- I already own Sue Barton Student Nurse
13. If the laptop is out of the question do you think you could encourage my dad to update my two old computers? They both have issues and I'm running out of room for pictures.
14. Slice Design Cards: Mix & Mingle or Travel USA or Fa La La
15. Slice Design Card Storage
16. Knee High Socks- it is freezing in our apartment and socks like this help to keep me warm.
Ok so I am asking for a lot but I'm honestly not expecting it all. Just thought I would give you a few ideas to choose from. Plus I'm then more likely to be surprised! :o)
Good luck this holiday season! I'll do my best to be asleep when you come.
Love, Melissa
I have been a pretty good girl this year. It's true that I've been on the selfish side, have gotten a tad jealous and don't always treat Tom the way he deserves. But I am trying to do better. I'm hoping in spite of my imperfections that I've made your Nice list. :o)
Oh and before I forget...thank you so much for last year's gifts. I think it was one of my best Christmases yet! Though I think most of that was because my whole family was home and we didn't have any arguing. A true Christmas miracle!
As to the things that I would like to see under the tree (or nearby would be fine) this year:
1. 52 More Scrapbooking Challenges by Elizabeth Kartchner- always looking for new ideas to scrapbook
2. A Walmart Gift Card- yep again! I'm constantly ordering photos.
3. Wives & Daughters on DVD- such a good movie!
4. North & South on DVD- what can I say? Elizabeth Gaskell knows where it's at!
5. Move Over Darling on DVD- Doris Day is my favorite!
6. Pillow Talk on DVD- a must have for my Doris Day collection.
7. The Doris Day Show Season 1- such a good season! Way better than the ones to follow.
8. My Parent's Entertainment Center- now this shouldn't be too hard to get. Just get them a new one that will look great in their family room with their flat screen TV. I would also need you to encourage my dad to drive their old one down to Eugene. May take a little work, but I know you can do it!
9. Calamity Jane Soundtrack- now there are two out there, and I want the one that includes the song By The Light of the Silvery Moon.
10. A Laptop with Wireless Capabilities- I could then take it to the library and not have to wait to get on a computer! I could also use it for more than an hour. (Maybe I could mooch off of other peoples' wireless- but would that put me on your naughty list?)
11. To test positive- and no not for any diseases.
12. Sue Barton Nurse Books- I already own Sue Barton Student Nurse
13. If the laptop is out of the question do you think you could encourage my dad to update my two old computers? They both have issues and I'm running out of room for pictures.
14. Slice Design Cards: Mix & Mingle or Travel USA or Fa La La
15. Slice Design Card Storage
16. Knee High Socks- it is freezing in our apartment and socks like this help to keep me warm.
Ok so I am asking for a lot but I'm honestly not expecting it all. Just thought I would give you a few ideas to choose from. Plus I'm then more likely to be surprised! :o)
Good luck this holiday season! I'll do my best to be asleep when you come.
Love, Melissa
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
So Close
One of my favorite craft stores near where my parents live is Craft Warehouse. I always try to take a trip there when I go home for a visit. Well when I was last there in February I remember seeing a poster about a contest to be on the 2009 Design Team. It sounded like something fun to try out for. Well I completely forgot about it until the beginning of April.
I remembered about it while watching Conference at Tom’s office. I looked it up and discovered that the deadline was the following Friday and that all entries had to arrive in the mail on that date. That gave me about three days to pull it all together. Possible? Well I decided to give it a try.
I shopped Saturday night for some supplies and got to work. Monday I ordered some pictures for the scrapbook pages and shopped for some more supplies. Worked on it till around 11pm on Monday and then got back at it on Tuesday morning. I took pictures of the five items once they were completed and then rushed to the library to upload them to Wal-Mart. Then I was off to Wal-Mart to pick up the pictures and then went straight to the post office. I made it with about 20 minutes to spare. Whew! Now I just had to wait to see if my entry would arrive on time and luckily for me it arrived on Thursday.
Well now for the hard part. I didn’t get the call on April 15th saying that I had made it on the team. It was sad but at the same time I wasn’t overly surprised. I think my entry was great but I had feared that I didn’t use enough products that Craft Warehouse carried. The nearest store to me is over an hour away, so a trip to the store was out of the question. I used some scrapbook lines that I knew they carried on some of the projects, but for the others I just used what I could find here in Eugene.
Well they did announce that there were many wonderful entries and that they had a hard time choosing. Since they loved so many entries they decided to do an honorable mention list this year. At the time I didn’t really care about that. I figured they would have a list about 15 people long and what kind of recognition is that? Well I didn’t think much about it until Tom texted me to tell me that I made the top of the honorable mention list which was only 5 people long. Yay! Yes I was so close to making the design team. But oh well. I am just happy that I gave it a go and plus I get to keep everything I made instead of giving it to the store to keep. :o)
Maybe I will try again next year and actually use the whole 2 months to prepare instead of just the 3 days. Craft Warehouse Design Team 2010 here I come!
I remembered about it while watching Conference at Tom’s office. I looked it up and discovered that the deadline was the following Friday and that all entries had to arrive in the mail on that date. That gave me about three days to pull it all together. Possible? Well I decided to give it a try.
I shopped Saturday night for some supplies and got to work. Monday I ordered some pictures for the scrapbook pages and shopped for some more supplies. Worked on it till around 11pm on Monday and then got back at it on Tuesday morning. I took pictures of the five items once they were completed and then rushed to the library to upload them to Wal-Mart. Then I was off to Wal-Mart to pick up the pictures and then went straight to the post office. I made it with about 20 minutes to spare. Whew! Now I just had to wait to see if my entry would arrive on time and luckily for me it arrived on Thursday.
Well now for the hard part. I didn’t get the call on April 15th saying that I had made it on the team. It was sad but at the same time I wasn’t overly surprised. I think my entry was great but I had feared that I didn’t use enough products that Craft Warehouse carried. The nearest store to me is over an hour away, so a trip to the store was out of the question. I used some scrapbook lines that I knew they carried on some of the projects, but for the others I just used what I could find here in Eugene.
Well they did announce that there were many wonderful entries and that they had a hard time choosing. Since they loved so many entries they decided to do an honorable mention list this year. At the time I didn’t really care about that. I figured they would have a list about 15 people long and what kind of recognition is that? Well I didn’t think much about it until Tom texted me to tell me that I made the top of the honorable mention list which was only 5 people long. Yay! Yes I was so close to making the design team. But oh well. I am just happy that I gave it a go and plus I get to keep everything I made instead of giving it to the store to keep. :o)
Maybe I will try again next year and actually use the whole 2 months to prepare instead of just the 3 days. Craft Warehouse Design Team 2010 here I come!
Friday, March 27, 2009
A New Look
I've been wanting to give this blog a new look for a long time now. It is just hard to find enough time when I'm at the library on the computer. Sooo many other important things to do too! So I made it my goal while visiting my parents over Spring break. What do you think? I'm pretty happy with it for now. :o) Now maybe I will actually blog more often...we shall see.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Update with Project 365 Pictures
We found out the first full week in Jan. that Tom passed his Ph.D. Qualifying Exam. Yahoo! He was only one of two who passed this second time. We feel very blessed! Looks like we will be living in Eugene for a couple of more years. We are very happy about that. 
My dad loves to photograph birds. There is a wildlife refuge not too far from home & I love to visit it with him while I’m visiting. This trip was one of the best! Bald Eagles were flying and landing very close to our car. This is my favorite picture that my dad took from the trip. Isn’t it awesome?!
Celebrating my 10,000 day birthday. Tom figured it out one morning and thought we should celebrate it. He brought me home all kinds of goodies and we had cheesecake for dessert. 1 candle = 1,000 days.
Made a ton of thank you cards. Some are for sale in my etsy shop. It is so much fun to have an idea & then have it fall into place.
This picture pretty much sums up the last three weeks for me. Sleeping, sleeping & more sleeping. Finally went to the doctor’s last week and am getting some blood work done. Going back to the doctor’s this Friday to go over the results. Wish me luck!
A day where I actually had some energy! I thought I was cured & couldn’t help but jump for joy! The next day I was back in bed.
Tom & I love Coldstone. It is always a treat and we always splurge and get the Gotta Have It size. This trip I got Oatmeal Cake Batter with raspberries & Tom got his usual of Cake Batter with Heath Bar.
A relaxing & fun day with my friend, Kari. We went to see New In Town and loved it! It is up there with You’ve Got Mail and While You Were Sleeping. We also picked up some Coldstone & brought some back for my mom.
Back @ New In Town with our moms. They loved it too! The movie even has scrapbooking in it. Can’t beat that!
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