Baby Mitts

Sorry it has been so long since my last post! I have been uber busy job hunting. With Christmas coming we sure could use the extra money. I have my first interview tomorrow and I am so excited. But back to the Mittens.
My bff over at Traveling Thrifter was telling me about some mitts she was crocheting for her husband. It inspired me to bust out the knitting needles and the pink yarn in back of my closet and make some mitts because I had never done them before.

I made thumbless mitts becasue they are for a baby and we all know how much of a pain it is getting there little thumbs in that hole, and they never stay anyways.

I came up with this pattern myself because well I HATE following a pattern!

I also made a matching cap and am working on a matching blanket.

The bows on the mitts are a bit long and I do plan to trim them hahaha.

Here is the pattern I came up with

Mitts:
*    * means repeat across

Cast on 32 sts. (Work in ribbing {Knit 1, Purl1} for 1.5 inches)

Then K1 *yo, K2tog*

For the next row you will continue in the stockinette stitch {Purl 1 entire row, K 1 entire row) until 3 inches from your ribbed row. End your last row in Purl

Decrese: K1, *K2tog to last stitch, K1
              Purl
Continue with the above two rows until you have 15 sts on your needle. Cast off. Sew together.

Christmas German Star How to

To start you will need 4 x 1" strips of paper cut 22" long. ( I taped mine together)

Since heavier paper is easier to work with I would suggest something like a scrapbooking paper. I also used construction paper and it works but tears much easier.

This is my first time trying my hand at origami, and I just learned how to make this star this morning. It is super easy and super fun after you get the first one down.

I am going to show you how to do it using 4 different colors so hopefully it is easier to see.

Here it goes.

First take your four strips of paper and stack them together. Cut and angle of both ends. This will make it much easier for you to weave.

As you can see I forgot this step lol 

Take two strips  and lay them vertical. As you can see I choose to have my green and yellow.
You will then take strip #3 (white) and horizontally go over top of the green and under the yellow
You then take stip #4 (red) and also horizontally go under the green and over top of the yellow
This creates a basket weave.

You will then fold over every other strip.

When you get to the last strip you will tuck it under like you see in the picture below.

Pull tightly so you have a perfectly woven square.

You will then flip this over and do the same thing on the other side! 

Take the upper-left piece and fold it around the back and to the right, forming a triangle. Fold it over to form a second triangle that is a mirror image of the first. Fold the piece over to the left at the crease between the two triangles to form one triangle. Bring the arrow through the upper-right fold and pull taut. Fold it back so that it sticks up toward you. Turn the star counterclockwise and repeat this process all the way around the star. Turn the star over and repeat the process for the pieces on that side. You now should have a star with four strips of paper shooting out of both sides.

 

Take the star and position it so that the pieces that stick out are pointing toward you on one side and away from you on the other. Take the piece on the right side and fold it into a loop in a counterclockwise direction like you are making a bow. Thread the arrow end through the fold on the upper left. Push it all the way through the the triangle that forms one of the points of the star. Trim the end off so that it is flush with the star point 

Turn the star and repeat this process for all 4 pieces. 

Then flip the star and do the same on the other side. 

You now have a complete 3D star. 

Decorate it any way you choose!

 
Here is a link to a video on how to do it, it may be easier to watch it being done 

Part 1

Part 2

Blah Basement to Bam Basement!

So Sean and I have talked about doing some things to the basement to spice it up a little.
It wasn't on the top of our list so we never really put much thought into it other than a little paint.

The other night while we were at Wal-Mart Sean found the color he wanted to paint it! I said okay we can buy the paint but we are not touching it until every other project that is currently on the go is done!

It's Monday night at 11:00 and I am dead!!! I didn't sleep much the night before and I'm dead. Sean has the next day off so I am trying to stat awake and enjoy the night together.

He decided that he wants to fill a few nail holes from where we tore down a piece of the 1x3 the guy had used as trim all over the basement. As he is doing this I am starting to get antsy. If that one piece of board is down and the drywall has putty on it and it looks funny then we have to paint. So it is now 11:30pm and I am grabbing a paint brush. I am so mad at this point because I want to sleep and I said no more projects and here we are.

We finish getting the first coat on at about 2:00. The basement is now a mess, everything is pushed in the middle and to top it all off I don't think I like this color. The more I look at it I think what in the hell did we do. Why did I let him talk me into picking this bold color! What was I thinking.

We finally head to bed but guess what I can't sleep, I am thinking about that color and thinking about cutting all of the trim for it and how am I going to place it and what can I put on the wall that is so open. So many thoughts running through my head. I dream about the trim literally.

I wake up at 9:00 and sneak out of the room. I have to get this second coat of paint on! I have to know if I like it. I had about half of the cutting in done when Sean came downstairs so he grabbed the roller and got the second and third coats of paint up.

Now it is onto the trim, which went alot smoother then I expected. Only problem was we didn't have enough. Guess what!?!?! Home Depot trip lol AGAIN.

Before we head out we have to get another door up in the upstairs, which went really smooth!

While we are at Home Depot I am looking for a mirror I seen on sale last week for 18.00. I found it and it's now 39,99! I'm a lil ticked but next to it is this huge mirror and it is perfect for only $50.00! SCORE

We didn't get home until 9:00 so nothing more got done that night.

Yesterday while Sean was at work I got my butt in gear and got the rest of the trim up! When he got home there was only a few more pieces. We cleaned up the mess and take a look at all the hard work we just did.

AND.... OMG I love the color! It looks awesome!

I will share with you our little before and after!

Now....

I am thankful for...

Since Thanksgiving is just around the corner I thought I would write a bit about what I am thankful for.

I am thankful for my wonderful husband to be! He is always there to make me smile when I'm down and to also share all the wonderful moments in life with me. He is my bestfriend and my soulmate. I am thankful for the roof he puts over our head and the food in our bellies.

Sean and I

I am thankful for our wonderful little family! We have a 1 year old sheltie whose name is Hurley-Turd! He is like our child. He makes out little family complete :) He is such a funny little guy who is always so excited to see you.

Me and Hurley

I am thankful for my mom and dad who have always been there for me. They have been there to catch me when I fall and give me the guidance in life I didn't know or think that I needed. Even though they might not always think so I do listen.

Mom and Dad - Compliments of Heather Legere Photograthy

I am thankful for my little sister who I may sometimes fight with but who I also love very much. She has always been a ear to listen when I need to talk and someone to laugh with or laugh at hahaha.
I am thankful for the most handsome nephew that she gave me, and I am thankful that she allows me to be such a huge part of his life even when 5000kms are between us.
I am thankful for all the love I felt the first time I seen him, and all the happiness he brings me! Every time I see his little face it brings a smile on mine.

Mom, Kristy, Me and Chase

I am thankful for my grampy who always took the time to teach me everything he could and always makes me laugh. I am thankful for the doctors who have helped him with his long battle with cancer! I am thankful that my grampy has taught me to be a fighter, even when the odds are against you it doesn't mean it can keep you down.
I am thankful for my Nana who has the world's biggest heart and would never say a bad word about anyone. She has taught me to always be kind to others. I am also thankful that she has shown me how to be such a strong woman emotionally!
I am thankful for

Nana and Gramp

I am thankful for my mother and father in law to be for excepting me as apart of there family, and loving me like there own daughter. They are a great support system and always try to help us make the right decisions.

My In-Laws

I am thankful for my crazy family (on both sides haha) and awesome friends! You all know who you are! With out all of these people I would not be the person I am today and for that I am thankful!
We don't always say it enough but I love you all, and am very thankful you are apart of my life!

Weekend projects

And the home projects continue.... 

This is the dining room/hallway when we had the home inspection.

This is the spare room the day we had the home inspection. Check out the nice crap brown stinky gross carpet. LOL

Now that you have an idea of what we started with I will tell you about out weekend hahaha.
 
Friday after Sean got home from work we decided we were going to get things going. We needed a list, a empty car, and some energy. We started that by stopping off at Mac's for a energy drink hahaha. 

We decided one project we wanted to get done over the weekend was to get the chair rail back up. 
We had to replace it because when we ripped up the floor in the dining room we had to take down our other stuff causing it to crack and break. No biggie I thought! 
This time I'm not being so cheap and I'm going to buy the pre-primed mdf sheets of it! Wouldn't that seem like a great idea to you? Wellll it wasn't! I put down the proper trim stuck a piece in to nail it and guess what.... it was actually 1.5 ft shorter then the other stuff that I had up there, and because the last time I put it up I tried to cut a corner and not take down the wall paper underneath it is now bitting me in the bum! 
We removed the trim we just nailed up and had to come up with a plan because really this chair rail would only look good in a midget's house. 
Off to Home Depot we go... make the 45 min trip in and of course I have to look at everything in the lighting section on sale and everything in the flooring section and of course my fav mistinted paints. By the time we make it to the lumber we have wasted an hour. 
I look and ponder thinking what are we going to do. How am I going to bring this up at least 6 inches.... then I spot it! A nice piece of 1x6! I was so happy!!!! And they were only 6.00 each and I only needed 2 so score!!!
We get it home and now it is 8:00 we stopped at a pizza joint for supper thinking we were being smart, no! We arrive home both full, tired, and cranky so you can imagine we are quite the pair and in no state to be trying to work together. Well not if we wanted someone to come out alive anyway! We ran out grabbed a movie and wrote Friday night off. We figured we would be good and rested to get a early start on Saturday.

Guess what we were wrong again. We slept in until 9:00 and I drempt about things we could do... So guess what... Back to Home Depot we go! ahhahahah.
This time I'm on a mission for some new doors that I seen the day before. They were on sale for $30.00/each! Why wouldn't I want them. I had checked before we left for stock at the store we were going to but to my surprise the computer lied they didn't have the size we needed so we then had to drive into the city... only tacking on another 30 min to our "quick" trip in.
Ok we have the doors, we have new handles, we have new hinges... Let's rock n roll!!! Get the doors to the car annnnnnddddd.... They are about 4 inches too long to fit in with the trunk closed which is fine we figured that much but we didn't have any string. As I start my walk back to the store  to buy some rope I realize I am wearing a sweater.... I ripped the string out of it and tied the trunk down hahaha no waiting in a mad line for me! 
We had to get the doors painted which was fine because it was beautiful out and only 4:00 at this time. Paint is going on the doors, paint is going on the 1x6 and I'm hopeful we might get something done!

Sean painting :)

Since we have no bathroom door because I took them all off in excitement that was the first one I wanted to get done. 
After some hard thought, elbow grease, and not so nice words we get the door hung. Now the door won't close because it is a bit to wide and we don't have a planer. So, that is all again for the night we are once again stuck hahaha 

I wasn't lying hahaha there really is a door hanging!

So, today was yet another trip to Home Depot, only this time we went to Canadian Tire first because I had to have this tool out called the crafter or something. It's made by mastercraft and looked soo handy. Got that, a quick trip to the dollar store of course, and home depot for the planer. 
While we were there I checked out the mis tints again and totally swooped in while this guy is also checking out the paint. He had set down a gallon of paint that is also primer and is $45.00 for the gal but on for $9.00 and there is two of them... snag there mine. Along with a light green hahaha sucker! 

We got home and were ready to complete something... one thing!  We get the 1x6 nailed in place the bead board in place and the top on. Bam Chair Rail complete!!!!! Only one wall left which will be finished tomorrow, just waiting on some drywall to dry. 

When we tried to take down the wall paper the surface of the drywall actually came with it!! What a mess!!!

Please ignore the mess! I will post a picture soon when we get all the tools and things off the table, but LOOK it's done :)

Now I look at Sean and suggest getting a door on the spare room we have been working so hard on. I can't tell if he thinks its a good idea or not but he went and got the door for me hahaha. 
We got it all chissled out, hinges on and can ya believe it it's only got to be planed a bit! 

Sean testing out the new tool! It works great but the battery died after two small projects. Hope it lasts longer next time!

There is our little helper supervising my chissel job.

Not a problem we pop that door down give it a few runs with the planer and doors back on the hinges. Now to figure out where and how to drill the holes for the door knob. 
It went smooth believe it or not! The drill bit gave us some problems but other then that it went pretty good. 
Got the holes drilled the door knob on and now is the test...... Does it close.
YES!!!! It even latches properly! (We are both doing the happy dance at this point)

Getting ready to drill for the door handle.

It's a bit tight and is catching in some places so we run the planer over those spots and now we have a real door that actually looks nice!!! 

The original door! I had thought about trying to prime it hahaha

Door Hung, Latched, and Pretty hahaha. Just need to touch up the paint!

We still have 3 to go but it feels great just to have one done!!!
We are far from knowing what we are doing but this is one DIY project I thought for sure was going to be a huge failure! 


It's now 9:00 and we are both too tired to do anymore tonight, but the tools are charging and getting ready for tomorrow. 
I can't wait for the upstairs to be done!!! 
Yayyyy for us hahahahaha


I do have to say a big Thank you to Sean for all of his help and hard work! Also for being me personal First Aider! 


Oh DIY failure... I don't do well with sharp things so I am sitting here with two fingers bandaged up hahahaha. One the nail bent half way back (ewwwwwww) and the other I drove part of a nail into the tip of it. I'm pretty accident prone and prolly shouldn't be allowed around sharp objects! hahaha

Sean gave me Simpsons bandaid's lol

Now I am going to attach a few pics of the Spare room redo! 

Spare room ( same as pic #2 on this post)

Now with new paint, new floor, new trim and new door :) hehehe You will also see that our pets have decided to claim this room. I'm not sure what to do about the window covering yet so this is temporary. Also I am going to paint a pic to put above the bed, so still a work in progress.

I bought this at salvation army for $3.00 but it was purple and COVERED in stickers. I painted it and want to use it in the room but i'm just not sure where to put it. Any suggestions???

Keep checking back for more updates. We are on a mission this week because we have friends of ours coming from Fort Mac for thanksgiving :)

We are so lucky to have great friends to share some great times with! 

UPDATE!

Hi Everyone,
Sorry I have been lacking on the posts but I promise I will have lots coming soon. I have ran into a problem with my Nikon camera and now am trying to get my Olympus working.
I hope to have a post by Sunday. It will probably be DIY.
Can't wait to share what all we have been doing!