Quick Refresh

 We have two refrigerators at our house. One in the kitchen and our second one is in the laundry room, like, a whole 5 feet away from the first one. When we first moved in I tried to keep the clutter to the second one, but having kids, it didn't take long for them both to fill up with art work and school work.

Every couple of months I clear off both refrigerators. I made the mistake of doing it during the day once and quickly learned it must be done in the cover of night. (You know, to avoid the tears and accusations. "YOU'RE THROWING AWAY MY SCRIBBLE-SCRABBLE?!?!" Seriously, those exact words have been thrown at me. I'm the worst.)

Ok, to the point. We have quite a few of those brightly colored letter magnets. They must hand them out at the hospital. They just seemed to appear. The letters got pretty close to not making the cut. That is, until I figured out how to give them a quick refresh. Enter my old friend...spray paint.

A very tiny change, but I'm enjoying it.

Hooray, It (WAS) Valentine's Day!

I think I have mentioned before that I may be a bit of a procrastinator. Well, my daughter IS NOT, and my procrastination stresses her out. I told her my idea for Valentine treats and after asking me several days in a row if I'd started yet, she decided to just give me an earlier deadline. Her party was on Friday, but she needed to put them in boxes on Thursday.

With lots of help due to an early release day, we were able to get them all finished. Even one for her teacher and student teacher. Whew!

This isn't the first time I've promised to make something for her, and see her stress out over my procrastination. I must remember in the future that my girl doesn't enjoy working under pressure like I do. I need to let her influence me to make better choices with my time.

Have your kids been good influences on the way you work?

Around my Home

 Rebuilt kitchen table.

 My mom built this little table in high school shop class. I gave it a little update with paint.

 Used the same paint for the door out to the garage.

 Front door, minus the ugly black storm door.

New entry table. I used my new welding skills (and lots of help at the metals studio).

Gave our blah fireplace an update. We'll do something about the black and brass doors at some point.

 I tried my hardest to hide all of those cords back there.

A few photos from around my house. 

Brother Quilts

I decided back in September that I would make a modern quilt for my brother and brother-in-law for Christmas. And true to how I usually work, I waited until a week before Christmas to get started. (Not exactly true, I purchased fabrics back in September). I worked around the clock for 2 days on each quilt. And because I waited so late to start, I was in a bit of a rush and didn't take as many photos as I'd have liked.

Quilt #1 for my Brother-in-law.

Quilt #2 for my Brother. This picture is just of the top, it has not been quilted and finished. 

When I look at these photos it's pretty obvious that precision is not one of my strengths. Regardless, I love the way the HST piecing turned out. I got some pretty nice feedback from the brothers, which makes me super happy. I am currently in the process of making a much larger one for our bed at home.

What kind of handmade gifts have you been working on lately? 

Recap of the past few weeks.

Bought a house.

Moved into said house.

Preschool graduation.

Dance recital.

It's been a lot of fun, but I'm really looking forward to a slower pace over the summer.

These Guys

This is my dad. He had knee replacement surgery...2 DAYS AGO! Can you believe he is walking around the block?

This is my husband. He's been working really hard and long hours. I felt like a kid, I was so excited to see him last night. I know two little people that were equally as excited. I would rather see my happy husband for 5 minutes, than my unhappy husband for hours...and I totally mean that.

This is my son's toe. He hurt it at the park and did not shed one single tear. Can you believe he's 3 years old? He did put his hands on his head and say, "Augh, it's hurting!"

Three pretty amazing guys. I've been blessed much more than I deserve.

Instagram Days

Instagram for Android was released on April 3, and I've had so much fun using it to take and share pictures. 

Sidenote: April 3 is my birthday so it was a super awesome birthday gift!

If you're on Instagram find me, I'm candyapplemayhem.

The Art Show

It was really more of a performance piece, but cute nonetheless.