Old Crafts/New Crafts

I have realized that there are a lot of little projects laying around the house that I have done during my moments of nothing to do that I have not yet shown to the world. Although, I realize that this is a blog. This means that I will have much to say about nothing to so little people. But for those of you who do look at my blog, this I will share:


Two years ago for Christmas I made a lot of bird ornaments for family and friends. I had this fun zebra felt and I thought that it just needed to be a bird. Someone may receive this as a gift someday...


These lovely stars are the beginning of my homemade Christmas ornaments. Ryan and I do not have money in our budget for things like that, therefore, I will make them myself :) I have many more of these starts that I would like to make, I am just not in the Christmas mood since it is March!


Now this one, no one must tell Michael about. It is his birthday present, and his birthday is not until August! He was quite sad that he did not receive a handmade ornament when I was giving the birds to everyone. Michael LOVES Christmas ornaments and little cute handmade things. I should have thought about giving him one, but I really feel that this half eaten gingerbread man fits him so much better! I think he is really going to like it. So don't tell him!! He loves surprises and hates it when they are spoiled.


Now this little mushroom/toadstool cottage was simply for my enjoyment :) I saw a blog with this on it and decided I needed one. Not wanted, needed. This is before I had my sewing machine, therefore, I sewed it all by hand. The embroidery takes quite awhile, but it was so worth it! It is now my pin cushion, so I get to look at it every time I sew. I have the felt cut out to make a toadstool sized one, it is short and squatty. Maybe I will get around to it one day.


Since I love to embroider, I have A LOT of needles and no place to put them. Until I found a pattern for this wonderful little needle book. I used natural cotton, some fabric I found at a local quilting store in a fat quarter, and a big button that I found in the bag of buttons I bought at an antique store. Also at this antique store I found the lace trim. I was so excited to get to make this beautiful little book for myself! I have realized that I end up sewing so much for other people that I don't keep anything I make.


On the inside I put a piece of wool felt that acts like a page where I take the needles in and out easily.


This final project is one that I am excited about! My friend, Jordan Cloyd, told me about this thing that Downy is doing. You send them your address and they send you a bag with pre cut fabric and instructions to make a quilt for a child that is in the hospital. The children that receive these quilts are usually ones that are living in the hospital with cancer or other diseases.


I have never made a quilt before, I have finished the front of it, this picture is the front halfway finished. Now I need to buy the batting and get a walking foot for my sewing machine so I can finish it. I have looked online for one, they look to be about $30. Does anyone have one I can borrow? Or maybe one you do not want anymore? I am praying for God to provide it, He gave me this sewing machine for free, so I believe He can give me a walking foot too!

Thanks for reading this :)

Spring is here!

Beautiful weather was awaiting me as I came home from Colorado. From snow, I cam home to the beginning of Spring. Although 2 days ago it snowed again, it is now back to warm spring weather.

Our favorite time of day is right before the sun goes down and everything turns gold. We usually have to step outside and enjoy it :) After seeing brown, dead grass for so long, it is so sweet to see color again! Although these purple flowers are weeds, they are gorgeous!




We have a quaint little front porch with a little bench to enjoy the sunset.





Grit has no interest in the weather, he just wants lovin.



Blue tends to work hard all day so at night she quietly lays in her bed until the coyotes begin to howl. Then she is out howling at them, her job is never done.




We also have a new baby on the ranch. A cute little palomino filly. This is not the best picture of her, maybe I'll get another one.


I am super excited for these beautiful days. I know the rain is coming, but I am so glad we live out where we can really enjoy the country. I hope y'all are enjoying it too!

Alpine Destined

I am so grateful to have a great, healthy relationship with Ryan's family. I have so many friends who have issues and touchy situations with their in-laws and thankfully that is just not the case for me! Ryan's parents took me to Breckenridge, CO for Hannah's Spring break. It was sooo much fun! It is a shame that Ryan could not come, I think he has a love for the mountains greater than any of us, but, that love is beginning to grow in me as well :)

Here are pictures that mostly Kathy took with our camera. I am just not a big photographer, I will carry the camera and forget to take pictures, it is completely inevitable. Although, most of you reading this were there with me, I thought it would be nice to share our little adventure with those who were not there. Ryan's family and kathy's sister, Keeley, and her son, josh, went on the trip. Keeley made the trip so exciting, I just love her fun loving personality! For the most part Jeremy was off on the slopes doing crazy blacks, riding through trees, giving mark and kathy a heart attack thinking about it. We heard stories of how he would get lost on the mountain... because he never would go down an actual run. It was fun to spend time with Mark and Jeremy after being married to Ryan, because I saw how many similarities the Rushing men have. Their drive for competition... and winning. Their mannerisms and little sayings. Mark kept saying... "Is it hot in here? Or is it just me?" I think Ryan and Jeremy have learned well from Mark, ha!

The first pictures are on our first ride up the gondola. We got to know this Gondola well.



This is Keeley and Josh. Josh has only lived in warm climates, such as Arizona, Hawaii and Florida. This trip was his first time to see snow while it was snowing! It snowed just about everyday while we were there so he saw LOTS of it!


This is at Peak 8, where we would take lessons and get our gear. Keeley and I took 3 days of lessons. Mark and Josh did one day and Josh did snow boarding on the 3rd day and found out he was a natural at it! I found out that I LOVE skiing! It is yet another expensive sport to add to my list!


It was so crazy on the slopes, one second the sun would be out and you would be hot and sweaty. Then the next minute it looked like this. You get on a chair lift and your face is frozen by the time you get off.


Here is Hannah about to show her skills.



We met up for lunch at a cafe on the slope. Yet, we brought our lunches because their food was so expensive! This day Kathy snowshoed up to the peak to bring us lunch! What a dedicated mom :)



These photos are from Kathy's snowshoe trip. She took my camera and got some great shots!






There are a lot more pictures from Hannah's camera on facebook... although Kathy may not be able to see them since her and Hannah aren't official friends, ha.

Overall, we had good food, good relaxation, good time spent together, it was a blast!

My Craftiness

This is the long awaited post. Maybe by only my sister... but still long awaited by Leslie :)

Today, yes today, it is warm enough that they have opened the door and I have internet in my house! To celebrate, I am posting this.

Here is what I gave Leslie and Hannah for Christmas. I bought cardigans at Target and embroidered on them. Here is the back of Leslie's:


This is the front of Hannah's, sorry the picture is not on here straight


The front of Leslie's:


I tried to make leslie's look like a mum flower, I thought it turned out well. I want to make one for myself now!


Last time I went home, the end of January for Whitney's wedding, I finally picked up my kitchen hutch. I absolutely love this piece of furniture. It was a gift from my parents for our wedding. They found it at an auction. I store all of my china in it and other breakables


Since we got the hutch we had to move the armoir into the 2nd bedroom. Ryan's parents gave this armoir to us, we love it and it is so beautiful! I put on top the teapot and platter that Ryan made for me and used when we proposed to me. The flowers were used in my wedding, I saw tons of flowers left over from my wedding sitting in my mom's house. I decided to take some and use around my house.


Here is a big project that took quite awhile. When we moved in we did not have very much privacy. For some reason Pat and Veronica did not have blinds or anything over the wide open windows on the doors. So, I bought some fabric from hobby lobby and made my own curtains. This was a first for me, but I am happy with how they turned out. I picked a fabric that would contrast well with the yellow walls and bring it out as well.


I was not sure how to do it, because I wanted it to cover the entire window at night, but I needed to be able to move it a bit to let light in during the day. I opted to sew a ribbon on the back and i just tie and untie it when I want.


With the little bit of leftover fabric I had I made tieback for the curtains in the living room. I bought these brown curtains from walmart.



I did not have enough for the loan curtain by the kitchen, so i picked a funky fabric my sister gave me :)



The next is an idea my friend Callie sent to me. She is SUPER crafty herself. The most talented crocheter I have ever seen! She crocheted me a miniature horse ornament for Christmas, hopefully I can post that soon, it is so amazing. So basically these are embroidery hoops (total of $3.50 for these three) and some fabric scraps my mom gave me from the discontinued fabric from louis shanks.


I hope to add some more, I wasn't sure how many I would need when I was at the store. They are so inexpensive and they look really neat! I love the textures of these fabrics so most likely I am going to add more!


I do have more crafts that I have made that I will someday post. For now, I hope this gave you an idea of how I keep myself busy out in Gainesville. Now the job is taxes, definitely not as fun as crafting!

Valentine's Day

This Valentine's Day was a wonderful day. As you know it is our first as a married couple. On most Sunday's Ryan and I make a good hearty breakfast together. This Sunday Ryan woke up early and went to the store to get me flowers, knowing I wouldn't wake up until he got back. So he made me breakfast, cinnamon banana pancakes, fried eggs and bacon. It was amazing, he even set out the china! Then we went to church and came back home. That night he made me dinner. Above is him cooking :) Here is the bacon wrapped asparagus he made, yum!


This is a picture of my gift to him. We did not have money to buy anything so I thought of what I could do without spending much money. I made sugar cookies for him and a valentine that won't just go into the trash. Growing up my siblings and I would make valentines for each other with paper and construction paper. I decided to embroider on natural, unstained cotton my message to him and then with fabric make the outside of the card. The outside is brown with a big heart on it.


Ryan ate the "N" so we moved the letters around and well... apparently I love Ray now... weird.


Here are my flowers :) I am a very traditional girl... therefore, I love flowers. I had to decorate the cookies on the table because Ryan was working his magic on the counters.



I was obviously feeling festive with the red shirt and white cardigan. The meal was amazing!


And my lovely husband :)


Here is that magic I was telling you about:


So overall, it was a great day. I hope yours was too!