2014 Christmas Present Project Countdown: Final Tally

I hope you all had a merry Christmas. We had a wonderful time relaxing and spending time with family. It's been nice to have a few days off and just relax.

With another Christmas come and gone, still the question remains...did I make my goal?

The answer to that question is complicated: yes, no, and maybe.

There's a whole lot of green there. I finished a total of 57 presents as of this evening. Included in that is one of the "extension" projects from earlier. Darian got back home tonight so I finished up one of the two projects I had planned for him. The other one is the one you see marked as "Easter" up above. The amount of time needed to complete it is way more than I had available, so I'm aiming to finish it for him by Easter. That should give me some room to sneak in the time to put it together, but it will all depend on how much he's around when I have time available to work. With me going back to school in a couple of weeks, it's very possible that he could be getting it for his birthday in the summer instead.

Now...let me explain why there are three different answers.


Yes :

I finished all of the projects that were necessary to give each person on my list at least one present. I also finished up all of the ones I set as a modified goal in the week prior to Christmas. I'm pretty happy about that. I consider that a success.

The presents for the altered goal were also finished by 10:30pm on December 23rd. That allowed me to be crafting free for Christmas Eve -- a very nice situation.


No :

Obviously I didn't finish all of the 70 projects I originally had planned. Four presents got completely cancelled and six presents (in addition to Darian's) have been postponed to be created as birthday presents for 2015. To be honest, I'm not too terribly upset by this.


Maybe :

I still have two extension projects that need finishing. I have three more days to complete them before we're meeting up with Owen and Patti. I know for sure I'll have one of these two finished. The second may become another birthday present. We'll see.


All in all, a very successful project undertaking. Everyone seemed pretty pleased with their presents and I learned a few new skills that I'm pretty happy about. I even managed to remember to take pictures during construction and got pictures of all completed projects before wrapping (with the exception of one, which we took pictures of after it was opened). That alone was a total win.

In addition, I now have a nice pile of projects to present as part of 2015's A to Z Challenge, which takes place in April. There are still a few things to make to fill in a couple of letter gaps, but for the most part I just need to edit photos and write posts and I'll be all set for April. That's a super nice feeling.

Now there are just a few things to wrap up before the end of the year (including a trip to the library tomorrow to renew the books I accidentally let go beyond their Christmas Eve due date), and then next on the agenda is the 2014 Book of the Year Bracket Challenge. Still need to sign up? No worries. The sign up is available until 12/31/2014 at 11:59pm. Go sign up and whittle down the books you read in 2014 to find your favorite. The fun begins on January 3rd, 2015.

2014 Christmas Project Countdown...3 Days to Go...

Well...the days are flying by and I have been crafting away. I have another twenty minutes or so before I call it quits tonight. My Pazzle is cutting out pieces for four in-progress projects as I type.

I lost a few hours yesterday to my family's trip to the Idaho Potato Bowl, but it was a much needed (and enjoyed) break.

The good news is that the progress has been steady since last week. The bad news is that a couple of projects are probably getting temporarily scrapped. They'll be moved instead to birthday presents for next year.

I have three projects that absolutely have to get finished. Without them, someone goes without a gift. All three are currently heavily in progress. I should have at least two of the three completed by tomorrow night. The third is one of the two big projects. The recipient this year? My youngest brother. I'm not going to lie, I'm kind of liking his gift enough right now to want to keep it for myself.

As for the remaining projects, they lay (lie?...I've never been able to conjugate that verb correctly) in various states of progress.

There are four that won't be getting finished until after Christmas. I'm giving myself an extension. That's because we won't have Darian for Christmas this year and, due to a few changes in schedule, he ended up being around far too much for me to be able to complete his projects without him discovering me in the act. In addition, we'll be swapping gifts with Owen and Patti on New Year's Eve, so I've put off one of Miss K's presents until later.

I expect that tomorrow night (well...technically tonight since it's currently after 1 a.m. here) and Tuesday night will be late ones. The goal is to be wrapped up completely (well...as far as I'll be by Christmas) by no later than noon on Christmas Eve. At this point, with the changes I've made along the way, it's looking pretty doable.

Here's where we stand tonight...

Planned Projects : 67 (decreased from the original 70)

Completed Projects : 43

In Progress Projects (with eminent completion) : 6

Other In Progress Projects : 3
Projects Given an Extension : 4

Projects Not Yet Started and at Risk for Being Changed to Birthday Presents : 5

A few more things to cut tonight and I'm headed for a short sleep. Tomorrow should be a productive day!

Are you all ready for Christmas?

2014 Christmas Project Countdown Progress

Well...in true EPJ fashion, I may have bitten off more than I can chew. I actually delayed putting this post up by a little over a day because I wanted to get more projects done and make things look better. Ha. So much for that.

There have already been a few minor alterations to the plan. I always overschedule projects so that I have extra projects planned in case something does not go as expected. This year, that's paying off. I have flip flopped presents for a few people because I forgot to take one tiny, yet important bit of information into account. I also eliminated three projects already because of an unforeseen supply shortage. But never fear, that worked out to my advantage. Everyone is still getting an appropriate gift and I have three fewer presents to make. It's something.

In addition to the large amount of painting that I mentioned last time, there is apparently a very large portion of vinyl. I don't think I realized when I started how very much vinyl is playing a part this year. It's kind of been fun, really. I'm now pretty much a pro at weeding and my tweezers and I are becoming BFFs. I'm learning a few new tricks and I've found some new projects that I really love (and will be doing more of). I hate to leave you hanging on that, but I can't really say much more without totally blowing my present cover.

I took advantage of my vinyl cutter running with another project to start writing this post. It was faster than I am. So...I suppose I had better get back to it.

Current statistics :

Planned Projects : 67 (decreased from the original 70)

Completed Projects : 27

In Progress Projects (with eminent completion) : 12

Other In Progress Projects : 2

Oy. I had better step on it. The good news is that the presents that need mailing will be finished tonight and on their way tomorrow. Small victories...

I'll be back for another update on Sunday afternoon. Fingers crossed that there are a whole lot more green x's floating around that graphic by then...

2014 Christmas Project Countdown

Ho, ho, ho! It's that time of year again. Christmas project action has commenced. That means that it's time for the Christmas Present Project Countdown!

This is my 4th year of taking on the countdown. And...once again...the number has grown. I question my sanity in doing this. Last year, I undertook a total of 54 planned projects, resulting in a completion of 48 of those projects, the cancelling of 6 of them, and the alteration of 3.

For those of you who are new (or newish) to the blog, each year I make a majority of the gifts we give to friends and family members. The only people getting non-homemade projects are typically Darian and Collin (and that's simply because they're at the bottom of the list on homemade items because I can make theirs any time of the year). The projects range through all kinds of crafts. In the past, I've done projects involving: sewing, photography, knitting, glass cutting, and quilting. It's a project extravaganza. 

The countdown is all about the progress I make in tackling these projects. The items themselves aren't revealed until after Christmas in case some of the gift receivers read the blog during that time of the year. For the 2013 Christmas projects, I revealed them during this year's April's A-to-Z Challenge. That's the plan again this year.

For 2014, the deck is stacked high. There are 70 (yes, SEVENTY) projects on the list. Seriously, I must be crazy.

Each year, there is one family member who receives the "big gift". In past years, that has been my sister-in-law, my mom, my dad, and my mother-in-law. This year, there are two recipients. Why? Well...because this year Darian gets one of the big gifts. I'm hoping he likes it. I'm pretty excited for it. As for the other big present receiver, well...that will be revealed later in the month.

Project central is in high swing over here. I've been hard at it for about a week now. All of the components have been purchased. Some of them are still in transit. I should have everything I need for construction by the end of next week. I was actually hoping for one of the packages to arrive before the weekend since I have to mail presents for one brother and his wife, but I wasn't that lucky. It's slated to arrive around Wednesday, which means I can get their stuff finished by next weekend and in the mail by the 15th. That's the deadline for now.

This year, an unprecedented number of projects involve paint. I don't know how that happens, but apparently I get on a type of construction kick every year. Last year, it was sewing and ModPodge. The year before, it was knitting. This year, it's paint and a whole lot of sewing. Good thing I had my sewing machine tuned up earlier this year.

I'll be posting project progress updates weekly. This is where we are as of this morning...

A total of nine presents are fully completed. Another ten are in some stage of progress. With all this painting, there is a lot of downtime in between stages. The hope is that by the end of today, the total completed project number will rise by at least two and I'll have another seven projects started. That will mean a total of 11 completed and 15 in progress projects at the end of one week. If I keep up this rate, I just might squeak to a finish. I'll really only be saved by the fact that one type of project is a bulk construction that will result in finishing 12 projects in a couple of hours. I'm looking forward to checking those ones off the list, but I can't start them for another couple of weeks.

Now...it's time for me to get off the computer and get back to project construction!

"S" is for Scrap Fabric Stockings

Today's letter of the day is "S". And in my world, "S" typically stands for scrap in some form or another. Most of the time, that's scrapbooking. But not today. Today, it's fabric scraps and some cute little scrap fabric stockings.

You've heard of Christmas in July, right? Well...today it's Christmas in April. Just go with it.

Another Christmas Passed...

Well...the last few weeks definitely did not go as planned. Things went pretty haywire and I have wound up just plain exhausted. Over the last 2 1/2 weeks, I've done nothing but work and craft. The earliest I was able to drag myself to bed was 2:30am. It's been grueling. I'm kind of glad it's over. My sewing machine and I are currently taking a break from one another. It deserves a break too. It's been a very hard worker. I'm currently trying to catch up on enough sleep to make myself functional.

The Christmas Project Plan did NOT get completed as planned for the first time in more than five years. I did complete presents for everyone, just not the ones that were originally planned. The list was changed at least three times due to time constraints and project frustrations. Projects got scrapped altogether; projects got changed and completed. It was a juggling act. I'm happy with the presents that got completed and I really like the way some of those things turned out, but I'm still somewhat disappointed in myself. Even completing what I did, I still feel a little defeated...a little like a failure.

To be honest, I think that 2013 just caught up with me. This has been a very difficult year for our family and I've been trying to just muddle through. Even though our wedding was wonderful and it was a very happy time for me, the rest of the year has not been that way. We've dealt with a lot of very difficult situations. I've struggled with depression (some mild, some severe) off and on, as well as experienced a lot of very intense stress. It's caused me to not be around here as much as I would like to have been. It's led to me not sewing, scrapbooking or doing anything project related. It's resulted in me being more than 15 books behind on my reading goals. Most of my time this year was spent attempting to control the chaos that has been our lives and spending any other available time curled up on the couch or on my bed under a blanket just trying to escape the world. It hasn't been fun and it's still ongoing. I'm not sure when we will see the light at the end of the tunnel.

BUT...Christmas was very nice (despite the fact that I tried to chop off the end of my index finger with the food processor and very nearly needed stitches on Christmas Eve). We had Collin's family at our place and it was great to spend time with them. I was able to somewhat forget all of that extraneous crap for about 24 hours and the respite was lovely. We did some experimental cooking that turned out pretty good (and that I'll probably be turning into a post down the line) and we played some games. I really do love our families. We've been very blessed in that department.

And our Christmas still continues. Things got crazy yesterday and there just weren't enough hours in the day - or enough hours to cook our gigantic bird and still have dinner at the originally planned time - and so we are (as my brother says) having Christmas Part Deux this evening with my family. I'm really looking forward to it. I really mean it when I say that there is nothing I love more than spending time with family.

So, even though things didn't go as planned, they still went. That's kind of been the motto for our year. We just keep pressing on. That's all we can do.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Despite it all...we really did.

Christmas Project Update and BOTY 2013 Progress

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We've moved right past that gut stuffing extravaganza (two dinners was not our best idea) and are currently enjoying (*sarcasm*) some frigid winter weather in our neck of the woods. I'm all for winter, but I'm not a fan of 11 degrees outside...neither are the dogs. The good news is that a 100 lb. Great Dane can be a great foot warmer, especially when she likes to snuggle in her sleep.

I am neck deep in Christmas present projects, but I'm moving along at a decent clip. I have already ran into one project that is taking far longer than I expected. Let's hope that is not a trend. But...as of this evening, this is where the count stands (not too bad for December 6th if you ask me):

Yep...that's right...I am actually half way there. Unfortunately, all of the bigger projects remain. The completion rate will be a lot slower from here out. The goal for the weekend is to complete at least 5 more projects. I have high hopes and big plans. I'd like to have Tyler and Victoria's presents wrapped, boxed and shipped toward Ohio by Monday afternoon. I have one piece left for each of them and then it's ready to roll, so things are looking good.

Switching gears...

As you no doubt already know if you have been following my blog, 2013 has been a bit of a rough year. Because of this, it should come as no surprise that I am very much behind on my goals for books reading this year. I am currently sitting at 46 out of my goal of 64. That's 72%...I currently have a C in reading. For me, that's totally pathetic.

Not only is the reading behind, but I haven't managed a single book review from the books I've read since January 1st. Just sad I tell you. But...all is not lost. I am still planning on completing a bracket and giving you my pick for the 2013 Book of the Year.

Here are the contenders so far:

1. This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen: 3 stars
2. The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen: 4 stars
3. Losing Charlotte by Heather Clay: 2 stars
4. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant: 4 stars
5. Escape by Carolyn Jessop: 4 stars
6. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger: 1 star
7. On Mystic Lake by Kristin Hannah: 4 stars
8. Rasputin's Daughter by Robert Alexander: 3 stars
9. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher: 5 stars
10. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain: 5 stars
11. The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory: 4 stars
12. The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom: 5 stars
13. Seriously...I'm Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres: 2 stars
14. The Virgin's Lover by Philippa Gregory: 3 stars
15. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot: 3 stars
16. The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue: 2 stars
17. The 19th Wife by Greg Ebershoff: 3 stars
18. The Host by Stephenie Meyer: 4 stars
19. Matched by Ally Condie: 4 stars
20. Crossed by Ally Condie: 3 stars
21. Reached by Ally Condie: 3 stars
22. Delirium by Lauren Oliver: 4 stars
23. Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver: 4 stars
24. Requiem by Lauren Oliver: 4 stars
25. The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly: 4 stars
26. The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly: 4 stars
27. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: 3 stars
28. The Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare: 5 stars
29. The Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare: 5 stars
30. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin: 4 stars
31. Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen: 4 stars
32. Life of Pi by Yann Martel: 2 stars
33. Deenie by Judy Blume: 2 stars
34. The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown: 3 stars
35. Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir: 4 stars
36. Dreamland by Sarah Dessen: 3 stars
37. The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks: 4 stars
38. Songs of the Humpback Whale by Jodi Picoult: 3 stars
39. Happiness Sold Separately by Lolly Winston: 3 stars
40. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield: 4 stars
41. Sea Glass by Anita Shreve: 3 stars
42. The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks: 4 stars
43. Just Take My Heart by Mary Higgins Clark: 4 stars
44. Summer Island by Kristin Hannah: 4 stars
45. The Next Queen of Heaven by Gregory Maguire: 2 stars
46. Strange Bedpersons by Jennifer Crusie: 4 stars

I expect that I might finish another small handful before the year is up. We'll see where the total lands, but for right now I'm planning that only books with 3 or more stars will be entered into the bracket. That way I can use the smaller 32 seeder.

If I really do well and bust out enough books then, I'll leave them all in. (This would require a total of 64, so don't hold your breath.) If I complete a small handful of only really good books, then only books with 4 or 5 stars will be entered. I'm totally playing it by ear.

Why not just enter the 5 star books, you ask? After all, these are clearly the best of the best in my opinion if I rated them at 5 stars. Well...I kind of like the progression. All 4 star books are not created equal. I like to see how then end up ranking. I just find it fun. I may even decide to break things up by category similar to the way that Goodreads does their Choice Awards. We'll see how ambitious I get about things. By December 25th I may just want a few days of napping after the crafting extravaganza.

For now, I'll be updating short reviews for the completed books in groups of 5-10. That way at least you'll have some idea of what these books are about before I start deciding which ones rank higher.

Now...back to the gift making...

Christmas Project Countdown 2013

Well hello again! I told you I'd make it back before the end of November. I just squeaked it in. Things have calmed down a little bit around here and I should be able to return to a regular weekly posting. Thank goodness!

I am currently getting started on this year's Christmas present projects. I am waiting for a shipment in the mail and I have one thing left to pick up at the store and then all of the necessary supplies will be in house. I'm planning on getting a few things accomplished this weekend. (Fingers crossed.)

As with the last two years (2011 and 2012), I will be using the Christmas Project Countdown to help me keep track of my progress and maintain my sanity as I work to finish everything on time. The tough part is finishing gifts for my brother and sister-in-law who live across the country. Their stuff has a deadline that is swiftly coming up so that I have time to ship. Their projects will get moved to the top of the list as soon as all of the supplies arrive.

So...what does the Project Countdown look like this year, you ask? Wonder no more...

As with last year, the total project count has gone up. This year's project count stands at 54. (Why do I do this to myself?) But...the good news is that there are a few simple projects and only one fairly time extensive project in there. Everything else is a smattering of somewhere in between. I think I should be able to manage all of this without an excessive meltdown (as happened while making Emily's alphabet soup quilt back in 2011) and I should be able to finish before Christmas Eve.

As we speak, I have 11 projects started. I am aiming for completion of at least 14 by the end of the weekend. Of course, the thank you cards I ordered for our wedding presents finally arrived from the printer yesterday, so a good chunk of the weekend will be taken up writing them and getting them ready to ship out. And of course, projects are all riding on my shipment from JoAnn Fabrics showing up today. Come on UPS...Time will tell; wish me luck!

I hope everyone enjoys a fantastic Thanksgiving tomorrow and I will be back in a few days with a bit of catch up on this year's Book of the Year progress. I'm so excited to finally be back to blogging! I've missed it!

Holiday Success! Planning for 2013...

Did everyone enjoy their holiday? I did. Well...until yesterday when I caught a ridiculous cold and spent the entire day in bed. I'm a little better off today, but still not 100%. But...it's still been super to have some relaxation time here and there.

I completed all of the 2012 Christmas Present Project Countdown with time to spare!

I completed the last of the 54 Christmas projects on the night of December 23rd. A full day earlier than last year! Hopefully I just keep getting more and more efficient at this. One step at a time...

I am still reading steadily in order to try and complete my reading goal for the year. I have a feeling I will probably come up a little bit short. But...no worries. I have a contingency plan. If I don't finish all of the 64 books I had planned, then the books with 5 stars will automatically win their initial bracket and the remaining books will be shifted accordingly. That probably doesn't make much sense without actually seeing the bracket, but trust me...it will work. I should also probably take this opportunity to explain that all of the books are actually read. I don't do the audio book thing. To me, that just feels like cheating.

I plan on continuing the book reviews through the end of January and then hopefully will be revealing my favorite book of 2012 by the beginning of February. There are some pretty good contenders. And once again, I have learned a few things that will lead to a revamping of the system for 2013.

Following that endeavor, it's back to the projects. I have quite a bit to share and I'm excited to show off some of the things I've made.

The plan for 2013? Ready?

Here are some of the things I'll be posting (in no particular order):

1. Kiddie Kitchenette
2. Sock Monkeys
3. 52 Things I Love About You
4. Patchwork Name Quilts
5. Alphabet Soup Quilt
6. Homemade Vanilla Extract
7. Homemade Sugar Scrub
8. Jean Aprons
9. Monogrammed Plates & Mugs
10. T-Shirt Quilt
11. "Sparkle" Quilt
12. Gameday Dresses
13. Little Girl Tutus
14. Pony Hoodies
15. Pajama Pants
16. Rice Warmers
17. Rag Rug
18. Beer Bottle Glasses

...and there are some things I'll be working on...

1. Project Life (I've kind of slacked off this year)
2. 2013 Book of the Year (changes to come)
3. 2013 Pumpkin Patch Planner
4. 2013 Christmas Project Countdown

I'm sure there will be things added as the year goes on. In fact, after the blogging extravaganza in October and all of the resulting Halloween decorations, I have decided that other holidays deserve just as much attention. So, I'll be planning some ways to complete projects to increase my holiday decor throughout the year. I have to get some good ideas on how to keep things fun - for readers as well as for my own sanity.

I'll be undertaking some photography challenges in order to increase the number of photos I take throughout the year as well as improve my photography skills. I'll be devising a way to feature these challenges soon.

And...finally...I can't leave out food. I'll be undertaking another round of meal planning in the spring. We are currently winding down on the meal planning/shopping that I completed last fall, but it's going to be a bit before I can fire back up. Unfortunately, our garage side-by-side fridge/freezer decided to bite the big one on Christmas Eve, so I have to wait until we either have it repaired or replaced before I can go do another big shopping run.

And there you have it. There will be organization, there will be planning, there will be posts, and...finally...there will be projects!!! Happy holidays everyone!!

A Question of Guilt by Juilanne Lee

Holiday crafting is still heavily underway! I did take one day off last Saturday...though not on purpose. Collin and I decided to go over and check out the new Whole Foods Market. Ya...not the brightest of ideas. We wound up spending half the day there and...instead of just "looking around"...left with a nice selection of meats, cheeses, olives and booze. Oy. Merry Christmas to us.

Other than that, I've pretty much been working on projects when I'm not working at the office or sleeping. When it's not holiday crafts, it's reading. The good news is twofold. I am now up to 52 books - meeting last year's record - and I am now only 8 books behind - slowly closing the gap. The bad news? I still have 12 books to go. So...I think I'm going to cave. I've been told by numerous friends that I should read the Fifty Shades series. I've been putting it off since it requires me publicly admitting reading them and putting them on the blog. But...whatever. I need quick, easy reads. Done. I guess I'll just have to tackle the three "mommy porn" books.

And now, for one of my super awesome segues, the one book that I read this year that was quite possibly the furthest opposite to "mommy porn", A Question of Guilt by Julianne Lee.

I am typically a huge fan of historical fiction. I also really like Elizabethan Era British history. So I figured that a book all about the life of Mary, Queen of Scots would be right up my alley. Well...sort of.

Mary has been executed three days earlier, but Janet doesn't believe that her queen could have been guilty of the crimes she was convicted of. Janet is a nosy socialite who delves into the details of the situation, despite the disapproval of her husband.

She begins by speaking to individuals in the Queen's court, those closely connected to other individuals pivotal in the decision to assassinate her. As she interviews these individuals, they take up the role of narrator in order to tell their stories. At the conclusion of their pertinent memory, the primary voice returns to Janet.

This wasn't my favorite historical fiction novel. It was a decent premise and a unique approach, but it took me a long time to really even get truly interested in the plot. I nearly abandoned the book early on. The primary reason I was about ready to give up? I really did not like Janet. She drove me nuts. I understand that without her character being the way she is there wouldn't have been much of a story to tell, but I really wanted to slap her for a good portion of the book.

The writing was okay and the author certainly did her homework. The details were definitely there. For all of the complications of moving from narrator to narrator, I think the transitions were actually done quite well.

All in all, meh. I read the entire novel so it didn't entirely suck. But...I wouldn't read it again. It was extraordinarily long and took me far too long to finish. I love historical fiction, but had this been my first experience with it I don't think I would love it quite so much.

I wound up giving it 3 out of 5 stars.

Oh...and as an update...here's where the Christmas Project Countdown now stands...

37 completed, 17 to go. Hoping to have another 4 completed tomorrow. Narrowing it down to the big projects...

It's Officially December! 21 Days to Get These Projects Done!

It's been a busy weekend of crafting. I'm mildly pooped. But...I have gotten quite a bit done and it's feeling good to know that I'm far ahead of where I was last year. It's not so awesome to know that I'm taking on a bit more this year.

If you' follow the blog on Facebook, then you know that I miscounted my projects. I forgot all about the fact that I promised the girls at the office that I would make stockings this year. So...there were actually 54 projects to start with.

In addition to doing more projects this year, I also have a larger portion of "big" projects. I consider a present a "big" project if it will take me more than two full dedicated days to complete. This year...there are eight. Oh my. And I realized yesterday that one of them needs completed in time to mail. Well...I guess I know which project will be at the top of this week's list.

So...now that I finished off five more projects today, I'm going to supply you with an updated graphic of my progress and then go lay in bed with a book and a glass of wine. It's been a long few days...

That's right...I have 30 of the 54 projects complete. None of the "big" projects have been finished yet, but I have started on one of them and...according to the little calendar I set up for myself...I should be starting on four more of them before the weekend. Fingers crossed.

Now...off to uncork that merlot.

The Last Time They Met by Anita Shreve

It's a big night...not only am I writing a book review, I'm also putting up an update of the 2012 BOTY bracket and an update of the 2012 Christmas Present Project Countdown. And then...well...then I'm going to continue to sit on this super comfy couch. I love this couch... 

Oh...and if you didn't see it over on Twitter or the Facebook page...I finished Marley's birthday present. She apparently loves it (thank goodness), as she wouldn't let her parents sleep the night we took it over. She wanted to play in her kitchen. (Sorry guys.) I will be doing a tutorial on her project here in a few weeks.

Alrighty...back to business.

All this fun talk and I am reviewing a book that didn't score so hot. Ugh. Sorry. I have to admit, The Last Time They Met by Anita Shreve was a disappointment. After reading The Pilot's Wife, I was really excited to read another of her books. It's probably a good thing I didn't read this one first...because it was just okay.

The Last Time They Met tells the story of Linda and Thomas. It breaks their love story down into three separate points in time, ages 52, 28, and 17...in that order. Yup. The whole thing runs backwards. This style can be cute. I've actually liked it in a few things I've read before. It just did not work here. Early on, it just worked to confuse me. Honestly, it just annoyed the crap out of me in the later chapters of the book.

I also discovered that I did not really "bond" with the characters like I do in a lot of the books I read. Thomas comes off as a jerk in the first section of the book and Linda...well, there are some not so nice words that I could use to describe Linda.

Looking back on this book now, I've had to really think about why I rated it the way I did. I'll tell you right now...I'm still not 100% sure. So...I went back and changed it to a more appropriate rating. Sad, but true. When I have this much anger writing about a book...I can't really give it an "I liked it" rating. Let's be honest here, that would totally be a pile of crap. It's like giving a kid an "B" because you feel sorry for them, not because they earned it. Baloney. Not happening.

So...will I read more Anita Shreve? Yes. I actually already have. I give second chances. I'm so nice. But...I didn't really like The Last Time They Met. So, it gets 2 out of 5 stars.

And this is where the bracket now stands...well...this is where it stands with the books I have thus far reviewed on the blog. It's actually a bit fuller with the ones I have finished.

And this is where the project countdown currently stands. I've busted out the first batch. Ya!!

I'm down to about four items that need purchasing, three of which should be purchased by the weekend. My goal is to have a plan put together for the timing of each project by this weekend. That way I can regulate how much I'm getting done and make sure I stay on task...so that it doesn't end up being a huge rush like last year.

Tomorrow afternoon's task? Washing fabric. Eww. Not my favorite task. It takes forever. Oh well, maybe I can accomplish some other things while my washer is working some serious overtime.

Christmas Project Countdown 2012

The Pumpkin Extravaganza has come and gone. It was a success. We had somewhere around 300 trick-or-treaters.

And now...it's time to start preparing for the next big bang.

We are currently working on a birthday present for a certain little girl who will be turning two next week.

Once that's done, it's nothing but Christmas projects.

Last year, I completed 40 projects for homemade gifts. This year, I'm upping the ante. We took a day off after Halloween, but then Collin and I sat down two days ago and came up with a game plan. We have a completed list for presents to give to family members and friends. Other than Darian, we expect that everyone will be getting a homemade gift (or gifts) this year.

Once the plan was made, I created a list of the items we would need to get in order to put everything together. Shopping started yesterday. Using the 25% off coupon that I had for JoAnn Fabrics, we managed to get a good majority of the fabrics needed. I only purchased items that were already on sale for 30% off or higher. I am waiting on a few others that I hope will be on sale within the next two weeks. My two largest purchases are set to be on sale starting next Thursday.

I coerced Collin and Carole into driving me around all afternoon today gathering up some other supplies. I now have everything I need to make more than half of the presents. I'm already ahead of last year's game by a BUNCH! Unlike last year, I'm hoping to be finished a few days early. Last year I barely squeaked through, finishing on Christmas Eve. The stress was not awesome.

As with last year, I'll be tracking my progress using the Christmas Project Countdown. For those of you not familiar with last year, I place a nice green check mark over a present as it is completed. I won't be previewing these projects until after Christmas has come and gone. However, I do have some projects from last year that haven't yet made it to the blog. Those will be showing up as tutorials in the month of December.

The month of November will be dedicated to book reviews. I am still plodding along on my BOTY (Book of the Year) plan for 2012. The goal is to have 64 books read before January 1, 2013. I have completed 43 so far. After January 1st, I will be finishing up the reviews that still need completion and then the actual BOTY bracket breakdown begins. I'm expecting that the official 2012 BOTY winner will be announced by the end of January 2013. Last year's winner was The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson.

There's a lot that's been accomplished since October 1st, but now there is a lot more to complete by December 24th at 11:59 p.m.. And so...I now have 50 days to complete 50 presents. Game on.

A Bit of a Smorgasbord Sunday - Preview for the Remainder of 2012

No finished projects for today, but we were super busy around here. In fact, Collin helped me work on four different projects. Three Halloween projects and one little girl birthday present. He was extremely helpful and I feel like we got a lot accomplished.

But...I can't share any pictures just yet or even let you know what I'm working on. Such a sad situation. But I love a surprise.

I am somewhat sad to admit that one of the projects should've been finished last week. And I'm even more embarrassed to admit that it would've been done a few days ago, had I not been an idiot. Ya...kind of overlooked the need to sand a piece of wood before progressing with the rest of the project. I went to peel of the stencil that would leave the project 100% complete...and...peeled up both layers of paint with it. Son of a...

I also recognized one other slip up today. Apparently, when I was counting the pumpkins that we needed by going through my sketch book...I overlooked a page. Oops. We are currently five pumpkins short. Crap. So I'll be going back out tomorrow and grabbing five more. So stupid. Honestly. I think I even double counted. Dumb.

Also on the agenda for tomorrow...dog food. Ya...we kind of forgot to get some yesterday and I didn't remember until a couple of hours ago. In the meantime, our dogs have been wildly spoiled with chicken, tuna, rice & egg. They're currently thanking me by wildly barking in the yard and annoying the neighbors. Ugh.

So...so much for my day off tomorrow. I'll be shopping and working on projects. I really was planning on reading for most of the day so that I could do some freaking catching up. I'm about ten books behind for my Book of the Year goal. Nothing like being consistently behind. And since I brought that up...a little preview for the rest of the year...

The rest of October will more or less dedicated to Halloween crafts and pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins. (I will have you know that I actually first wrote "the rest of Halloween will..." It's pretty much all that's on my mind right now). I'll be working on sketches on the pumpkins during the week...potentially giving a few sneak peeks...and then gutting starts Friday afternoon, with yard assembly starting on Saturday and actual carving beginning either Saturday or Sunday. It's going to be nuts for the next ten days. Seriously...nuts.

Once the pumpkin extravaganza is all over and done with, November is all about the books. I'm behind on book reviews by...oh...SEVENTEEN. That's horrible. So I'll be putting through about three to four reviews a week. Continue the craziness. As a reminder, the goal is 64 books for the year, with my 2012 Book of the Year to be revealed in January 2013. There are some pretty good contenders so far.

While all that good stuff is going on...I'll be putting up the 2012 Christmas Project Countdown in about two weeks. The plan is currently being developed. I'll be checking off the gifts as I finish them, just like I did last year. I won't be revealing any of those projects until next year, but I will be putting up some tutorials for gifts I made last year during the month of December. Two words: sock. monkeys. You're welcome.

Wow. How was that for rambling? That's pretty much how I've been all day. In about eight thousand places at once. And now...back at it. Happy Sunday!!

And It Begins Again...

It's September people. Late September. Do you realize what this means? As of now...there are three months until Christmas. It's time to start planning.

You may remember that last year I busted out 40 homemade projects for Christmas and documented them in my Christmas Project Countdown. I also vowed that I would plan ahead better this year so that everything didn't come down to the wire. We'll see how this plan works out.

So...I am currently in the planning stages. I'm getting my list together to figure out what I'm making and for whom. I also have another big project in the works. Miss M's birthday is coming up in a little over a month and her birthday present is currently at a standstill. I have one part to track down in order to continue and, being the cheap frugal person that I am, I am looking for a good deal on it. I'm hoping to have it locked down by the end of this week so that I can really get to work.

In the meantime, I have been working on some actual projects. I grabbed the dulled out and very dirty garden bench from my front yard and gave it a makeover. It is now washed, sanded and restained...once again looking pretty next to the front step.

Collin and I also found a major score during one of our thrift store shopping trips. He's been needing some end tables for his reception area for quite some time. We've been looking around, but couldn't find anything we liked for less than about $65 per table. Nope. Too much for us. But...we happened upon some "gently used" tables at the local Goodwill. We grabbed the pair for $14. Yup. $14. We then got some burgundy stain, sanded the crap out of them and refinished them. They look pretty good. He took them to the office tonight. I'd show you pictures, but I forgot to take some -- of the tables or the bench. I guess I just got wrapped up in the projects. I'm pretty proud of the fact that we just finished off his reception area for a grand total of about $20. Not too shabby.

I've also been cooking and reading up a storm. I was actually going to do a book review tonight (since I'm about 10 behind), but I just wanted to ramble instead. So here you go. Success!

And now...I'm going back to my planning. The countdown officially begins...NOW!

(Ah...I also forgot to mention that planning for this year's Halloween extravaganza has begun. Collin and I are attempting to whittle down our ideas to decide on this year's pumpkin plans...We have a lot to live up to after last year.)

Coastin' Along (Part II) : Decoupaged Tile Coasters

Yesterday I told you how to make the "man" project bottlecap coasters. Do I like those coasters? Yes. But...personally, I like my coasters prettier. So for the girls (Patti, Krista & Carole), I made decoupaged coasters. Patti & Krista got decoupaged paper coasters and Carole got the uber fancy decoupaged photo coasters.

As with my other Christmas projects, I had a major fail in the photo department so I had to recreate the projects to get my tutorial pictures. Don't worry...I'm learning my lesson. Next time, photos will be taken as I go. I'm more or less telling you this so that you won't freak out when the beginning and final photos aren't the same as the "in progress" photos. Deal with it people.

For this project, you'll need :

Ceramic tiles (you can get these super cheap at Home Depot or Lowe's; I paid $0.11/each for mine).
Paper and photos
ModPodge
Foam brush
Clear coat (not pictured, but I used automotive clear coat)
Adhesive felt pads

First, cut your paper and photos to the match the size of your tiles. I approached this two different ways: some I cut to the exact size, some I cut slightly smaller. I advise cutting them slightly smaller - this seems to help the edges seal better.

Any ModPodge will really do, but I chose the glossy. To adhere the paper/photos to the tile you can either apply the ModPodge directly to the tile

This is the underside of a tile. If you look close, you can see the ModPodge streaks.

All tacked down. Seriously, how pretty is this girl?

or to the item you're adhering.

I think I tended to get a better result when I applied it to the tile. I seemed to get more wrinkles with the paper application (note the bowing in the above photo).

Once the paper/photo is glued down, coat the top with more ModPodge. I did about 3-5 coats. Don't panic when you do this. It will go on white and goopy, but it will dry clear.

Try to apply it as smoothly as possible, but don't worry about streaks that may develop. It'll be okay. I promise.

(See...blending in.)

Additionally, on the photo tiles, the ModPodge may pull up some ink. In my case, I've done all of my photos in more of an antique coloring. I honestly can't tell you how full color or monochrome photos will do. In my case, they dried out just fine.

Calm down and breathe. It'll be okay. See...the Minnie ears are already clearing up.

Let these dry fully. (I suggest overnight. And don't be checking them after four hours with your fingers people. Be patient.) In my experience, the paper ones tend to dry faster than the photo tiles.

After 3 hours.

Also after 3 hours. Note that there isn't a red issue in the drying areas.

Once they have dried, apply the clearcoat. I did this out in the garage. The fumes are, of course, awesome. Do these coats rather thin. This will prevent bubbling. You can add additional layers about every 30 minutes to an hour. We did three coats and then left them in front of our fireplace for a few hours. Collin then blasted them with another four to five coats the next day. He went a little overboard, but I admit they came out awesome.

Ooh...shiny.

If you run into bubbles, don't panic. I had that happen on a couple of them when we put the clearcoat on too thickly. Collin helped me solve the problem (mostly because I had a rather crazy panic attack). He wet sanded the areas to remove just enough clearcoat to get to the bubbles. After that, he just started over again - this time with THIN layers.

Bet you can't guess which two were wet sanded and repaired...I can't...and I made them.

After the final coat of clearcoat has dried for at least 24 hours, apply the adhesive felt pads to the underside corners. I put mine about 1/2" from the edges. Let the tiles cure for another 2-3 days in a warm location before stacking them, using them or putting anything on top of them. Stacking them early will result in imprints. (Hint: Your fingertips will also do this. DON'T TOUCH. Resist the urge. I know you can do it.)

And when you're all done, they should turn out nice and pretty and everyone will love them. Well...I will at least.

We can occasionally be a presentable family. Oh...in case you can't tell...we like our sunglasses.

Coastin' Along (Part I) : Bottlecap Coaster Tutorial

For those of you curious about last night's dinner adventure with the sesame chicken, here's the review. Darian loved it. Collin was okay with it. I didn't fare too well with it. It did not make the cut for our regular rotation.

That being said, let me inform you of one disclaimer: I don't so much like chicken. Chicken nuggets, sure. Chicken from a can, no problem. Chicken breasts or chicken actually still on bones? Did you just see me do a full body shiver? Eww. With the chicken breasts, it has something to do with the dryness of the meat. The texture gets to me. And chicken still on bones...umm...hello...bones. No thank you. Now I can handle beef and I can handle pork, both with bones. I draw the line at chicken. I know that's weird, but it is what it is. If we have fried chicken, Collin has to pull it off of the bones for me.

But...speaking of picky eaters, my friend Michelle over at In Search of the Sidewalk wrote about her peculiar eating habits yesterday. She's making me feel better about myself.

Now, back to what I really intended to write about today. Remember those Christmas projects I did? Believe it or not, I'm actually going to teach you how to do one of them. Shocker isn't it?

Today's project : Bottlecap Coasters

How awesome are those? I mean really, come on. I love them. I made a set of four for each of my brothers and one for Owen. They seemed like pretty decent guy presents.

Having enough bottlecaps to make these and have such a varied number of brews is tricky, right? Well, I've had a serious stash of bottlecaps for years. And how did I come across such a wonderful collection, you ask? It's all about who you know. My younger brother attended one of the nation's universities most noted for their partying. Score. When bottlecaps started to get popular in scrapbooking about, oh seven years ago, I asked him to save them up for me. Thus, three large tackle boxes shoved full of caps from a whole lot of different beers. (I won't judge his roommates by the fact that there were Mike's Hard Lemonade and Zima caps in the mix.)

And so they sat in my scrap closet...for years...gathering dust...until I came across this gem on Pinterest. I found two problems with these. 1 - I don't buy stuff that I can make. That one is pretty obvious. 2 - Theirs are held together with steel wire. I wanted something with a base. So...I set out to devise my own system.

Here's what you'll need for my method :

1. Caulking gun
2. Silicone or construction adhesive
3. Acrylic sheets (found at any hardware store)
4. Acrylic knife
5. Adhesive felt pads
6. Bottlecaps (duh)

Now don't try and be all smart and think you can just use a craft knife. Nope. Doesn't work. Trust me - I tried it. Badness and cursing ensued. And I'm not talking X-Acto Knife. I'm talking one of these :

You might also want a cutting mat and a heavy duty (read: metal) ruler.

First peel the protective coating off of the acrylic sheets. These will most likely be on both sides. Then cut your sheets to get a nice pile of 4x4" squares. Don't worry about the edges being perfectly square...we'll fix that later. If you do worry about them being square, well then this project is going to take you a while. Good luck.

How artsy is this picture?

Now that you have your bases cut, it's time to pick out your bottlecaps. I highly advise washing these first so you don't have stinky and sticky beer residue to deal with. I put mine in the silverware rack of my dishwasher and blasted the crap out of them. Tada.

Pick out nine caps for each coaster. Line them up to figure out your configuration before you start to adhere them.

Now it's time for the messy and smelly part. Seriously. I nearly got high making these. Remember this tweet? Ya...I was working on these.

So, keep little hands out of the room and pull your hair back. Please don't wear nice clothes. You don't have to be prepared as if you were painting your ceiling, but don't be dumb and wear expensive jeans or your favorite t-shirt ever. Your hands will be covered in ickyness. (Yes, I'm making that a word.) Oh, and another tip. When you open your adhesive, make sure to puncture through to the back end of the tube (I shoved a wire hanger up through mine), otherwise your hands might just fall off from trying to squeeze the crap out of the tube.

You can technically start anywhere, but I like to glue down the center cap first and then work around it. Don't worry about being evenly spaced from your edges, but get it close.

Fill the cap with adhesive.

Now you can just smoosh it down on the acrylic at this point, but I found that I was getting some air bubbles underneath. So I took to flipping the cap over and wiping it against a spare piece of posterboard I had hanging around.

Now that the cap looks pretty and filled, squish it down onto the acrylic. You'll want to get it into position fairly quickly so that it doesn't get stuck in a weird spot. Continue to add the caps one at a time, with the sides touching. You should end up with something like this...

See that extra goo all over the place? If you used silicone, no big deal. It peels off with the use of a small tool (I used some broken dental instruments I had around the office). If you use adhesive...keep some Q-Tips (some wet, some dry) handy and remove the excess as you place each individual cap down. The adhesive is a bit more difficult to remove cleanly.

If you've filled each cap properly, the underside will look like this.

Okay...now it's time to get creative. In order to smooth my edges, I used my Brassler and lathe at the office. Basically, it's a Dremel. It worked pretty darned good. It also made a huge mess that I apparently left all over the floor for my assistant to clean up on Monday. Oops.

Now you'll have Coasters with lovely smooth edges.

Lastly, you'll need to put the felt pads on the bottom to keep them from roughing up tables. Just peel the backing and stick them down to match each corner cap. That way they're hidden from view and nicely balanced.

Let these babies air out for a while before you use them. Otherwise you'll be getting a buzz on top of your buzz. I'd say 3-5 days.

Also, a few other helpful tips. Beer bottles : good. Tumbler glasses : good. Wine glasses : BAD. OH SO BAD. I very nearly shot a wine glass off of one of these puppies over at Owen & Patti's house. 

Additionally, if you used the silicone, the caps can come loose if the acrylic is flexed. Don't panic. Hold the offending cap in your hand for a few minutes to warm it up and then squish it back down nice and hard. Tada!

See...wasn't that fun? Now we have some manly coasters. I'm planning on assembling some for ourselves to keep in the still to be constructed bar in our basement. Nothing like having all the accessories before you have the furniture. Whatever.

Oh, and don't worry...I have girly coasters coming up next...

You've Been Framed

I always try and give our moms something homemade for Christmas. I just think that homemade presents are so much fun - both to make and to give. This year I went the photo route for both moms.

Project 1 : "I Love You" Frame

This one I made for Carole based on an idea I got from Pinterest. We try and keep her up to date with photos, but sometimes we fail miserably...like the fact that I just gave her photos from last Christmas while she was here for this Christmas. Oops.

The gift was fairly simple to make, but should look good next to her other photos of Dar. I used a regular 8x10" photo frame with 5x7" cream mat. I printed the photo from our family trip to Yellowstone this past summer. I used black and white so that the whole scheme would tie together. Plus, I just like black and white for display photos because then they can more or less go in any room.

The "I Love You" letters are actually fabric stickers. I use them for scrapbooking, but I thought they looked super cute here.


Project 2 : "Love" Shadowbox

For my mom I typically use things from our childhood...like the photo frame I made for her a few years ago with our baby pictures and a "T", "L", "C" for our initials. (No, my parents did not name us just so that would come out like that.) Sadly, I don't have a photo of it to show you...lame, I know.

This year though, I decided to do a recentone with the family. I used a large shadowbox frame with a front opening hinge. I then framed our family photo in an 8x10" mat and a photo of Marley in a 5x7" mat. I adhered both of them to the linen backing. Unfortunately, my adhesive choice was crappy and they came loose after wrapping. I would suggest using double sided foam tape instead of the scrap adhesive I used.

Finally, I had a large chipboard "love" in my stash. I thought the whole thing could use a little bit of color so the bright red just works out well. There are accent pins to the top right and bottom left of the "love".

See...not too difficult, but still semi-creative (I like to think) and somewhat sentimental. That's the kind of gifts I prefer to give when I can.

In Stitches

Last week I gave you a preview of the projects that made up the Christmas Project Countdown. As you no doubt noticed, there were quite a few scarves.

I feel like I'm finally starting to get the hang of this knitting thing. Now...that being said, I know I still have a long way to go.

But...considering that my skills started off with some miscalculation and this, I think I'm doing alright.

I've talked to you before about the fact that I'm all about taking the easy way out on things. So all of these scarves were knitted using a knitting board (loom). I have no desire to mess with needles. I'd probably just stab myself.

For the scarves, I used one that looks an awful lot like this :

I found that it's rather relaxing to do this while half watching a television show. I got through quite a few episodes of My Boys. 

The first scarf I made was this one : 

Originally I didn't know who I was making it for, but as I worked on it I realized that it just looked like it would be fitting for Collin's grandmother, Jean. Turns out...I was right. She sent us a thank you note the other day saying that she really likes the color. Score!

The best part about knitting these scarves for Christmas was that I got to try different types of yarn. For some of the girls' scarves I used angel hair yarn. This is typically a double stranded yarn. It's soft and pretty, but it can prove occasionally problematic if you're not paying attention to the strands.

This yarn is so soft in fact, that it prompted me to tweet this.

The softest yarn though was the one I used to make a scarf for my dad.

This is crazy heavenly. It's Goldenrod by Sensations. It's like a fluffy cloud.

I also played with some fun color combinations to see how the patterns came out. 

I really enjoyed how the pattern ended up coming out on Jon's scarf...a nice diamond motif.

I ended my endeavor by learning how to blend different yarns to make a pattern. I goofed up and don't have a good picture of it, but you can kind of get the idea...

I made that one for my grandmother. She's the knitter/crocheter in our family. She has made me some really beautiful afghans. And that brings me to my goals for 2012...

I'm going to keep working at the knitting and trying new things. I still have to break out the crochet hooks and learn that skill, but that's another story. For the knitting I have two 2012 goals. I want to make an afghan and I want to knit myself a pair of fingerless mitts. My hands always get crazy cold, so it would be really nice to have those handy. (No pun intended, but it certainly worked out that way.) I'm hoping to start on them soon (I need to go pick out some yarn) and have them finished by February at the latest. The sooner, the better. My hands will be very happy.

Also, Erin's girl loved her mom's scarf so much that I've decided to make a girly one for her. She's requested fuchsia so I'll be picking up some of that as well. Maybe I'll even try and learn a new stitch. Hey! Look at me branching out!

*** If you want to see an idea of the projects I'm thinking about trying this year, check out my Pinterest. I have a specific board out there just for knitting that I'm hoping to add more ideas to. ***