Lovopoly

Freakishly busy life=not enough crafty time.

boo. :(

That being said. I once posted on my other blog about LOVOPOLY. A personalized version of monopoly. I was baffled at this seemingly insurmountable task, but thanks to THIS SITE, my creative juices got flowing. I did mine a little differently than the one they highlighted. So I'm sharing.

So.......

just in the nick of time, I created my own version. It took me a couple of hours every night for the past few nights. Mostly because I'm freakishly busy with student teaching and didn't have time to finish it in one.

and so it is.

I bought this Monopoly game for $1 at DI. I hate DI. But I love their cheap prices for things I'm just going to redo. Such as monopoly. Then I covered it with paper I had already.

And I mod podged the hell out of the ENTIRE thing.

 Such as this game board. Which I totally covered. With cute paper. And mod podge.

 And pictures! See? So cute, right? I cut big squares for the non-property pieces. I labeled them "Get Lucky" for the get lucky card pile, "Family Jewels" for the family jewels pile, and then for the random other four spaces...I personalized it. Ty is gonna love it! :) He is big into hunting/guns/outside/being manly so I made them different hunting trips--African Safari, Alaskan Brown Bear, Kamchatka Peninsula Grizzly, etc.

The property spaces, you can see, are mostly covered. I left the color  and sweet moola showing for game purposes.

And I renamed them for our favorite places.

Such as the back seat of my husband's truck.

so many good things have happened there.

amen.

Just another close up. :) Swift Creek Canyon. So many good things happened up that canyon. So if you make your own, pick your favorite places.

 I'm so pleased with the final product. Here's another picture

.

This is the box top. :)

I love that one of our engagement pictures actually says PLAY right on it! I knew it would be totally PERFECT for this project.  

Ok. I printed out a bunch of wallet sized photos from Walgreens for the get lucky and family jewels cards.

Make them personal. For instance, one of the family jewels cards is to pay rent, and one of the get lucky cards (I'll share a clean one, because you dont' need to know what the rest of them say. Wink wink) says...innocent makeout session. Pronto.

I think this is such a fun romantic idea. I'm so glad I finally got around to doing it. I think Ty will love it. :)

and I love him. And I loved all the memories I had to dig up in order to do the properties, cards, etc.

so do this. You'll like it. :)

i love my new camera :)

 

BOKEH. FINALLY.

I got a camera for Christmas.

Because I am exceedingly blessed with the greatest man alive, LOML, my husband.
and he is sweet and kind and thoughtful.

Especially when I take his photo. Can't you tell?

;)

hahahahahahahhahaha

anywho.

Ever since I got my camera....

I've been trying in vain to achieve Bokeh.

if you don't know what Bokeh is, google it.

The particle form of Bokeh I'm wanting is sparkly circular light bokeh.

and tonight, by accident, since i am snowed in and bored, I was taking lots of ridiculous and pointless photos

and what to my wandering eye did appear?

Bokeh.

Glorious multi-colored spherical BOKEH.

behold:

Do you SEE IT?!

No?

Let me make it easier for you.

I am pleased.

:)

Do you have any photography tips for me? I would love them. Being an amateur and all. You know how it is.

Babies

I love not being pregnant.

I love it so much I put it in the "about me" section of this site.

TMI alert....

I love my period. Every month. I love it. I don't know why. Well I do know why. Because sometimes I'm a crazy fruit snack, granola-munchin', no-armpit-shavin', weirdo au naturale kinda lady. Anyway. Remember how I put in the about me section that I would be pouring out my heart and soul? Yep. That's what this paragraph was. Let's move on. :)

as much as I love not being pregnant, I am also very, very baby hungry.

Luckily, or maybe not so luckily, my husband is too.
hmmm.
maybe we should have a baby.
maybe we shouldn't.

I'm just going to leave it up to my blessed womb.

Moving on now. I Promise.


A relative of mine recently got a baby. A sweet little girl baby. Congratulations to them! :)

So I decided to get them a gift.

A practical gift.

Onesies.

and then I thought, wait a minute, how can I make this gift cuter?

Behold:

 I appliqued them!!! With a heart, a blackbird, and a cupcake. I'm a big fan of the adorable cupcake thing going on these days. I even frequent a cupcake bakery to prove it. And my expanding wasitline can prove THAT!

And then I thought: I am OVER wrapping presents. Christmas, you did me in.
So....

I used the headbands I made (super simple, from little girls nylon tights. Cut a leg--about 13 inches. Sew--hand or machine--ends together. You can cut another strip to cover up your seam, or you can gather it which is what I did. And then I added those pretty satin flowers that I made. I just handsewed them on with some clear fishing line. I'll make a tutorial for the way I do mine--there are tons of different versions out there in blogland, though!) to make it a pretty little package, like so:

I'm not even wrapping it more than that. Because it's way cute! This would be so easy to do for any baby outfit you give, and you don't even need to applique the onesies! :)

I want a baby.

I do!

The trick is getting this gift delivered while the baby is still small enough to wear them.........


Thanks for reading! :) Let me know what you think!

(except don't tell me about the bad picture quality. Folks, I'm an amateur, I tell ya! I'll get there. I just need some practice!)

ha....ha....ha....

Ok.

So I'm a little embarrassed here.

Because I have big plans for this blog. Because I like to make stuff, and do a pretty decent job at it. And because I haven't even announced it to the world yet, and when I look over to the right I already have FOLLOWERS.

And this blog is basically nothing at this point.

Also, because I said the words "design line".
Like I'm talented or something.

Ha. ha. ha.

So girls, thanks for following...I promise to stop using phrases like "design line" and I promise to start posting worthwhile stuff soon.

:)

peace and love and thanks for reading!

Jo

First Post!

I'm a newly-married college student trying to support my creative habit. I LOVE all things creative. I crochet, knit, sew, paint....and on and on and on.

I attribute my creative genes to my lovely Grandmother, who has taught me how to do all of the above things and so much more. I started crocheting when I was 7 years old. I still remember sitting on my Grandma's porch crocheting chains. I would proudly show her my work, and she and my Grandfather would ooh and aah much more than I'm sure I deserved at that time. Their praise worked, however, since now I'm a total crochet addict.

My passions include living a creative, authentic, and meaningful life, creating beautiful surroundings, cooking, education--especially high quality education for ALL children--regardless of race, native language, etc., writing, making peace, and saving the world.

I lived abroad in Eastern Europe for two semesters, and I have to admit that I'm a complete and total Russophile. I love to travel. I used to live by the train station in Kiev, Ukraine. I walked through the train station every day to get to the metro station, and I can honestly say there is nothing quite as lovely as a train station. Oh yes, I know, all the warning about pick-pockets and what have you, but keep your purse close and enjoy the exhilaration of the comings and goings, the rushing and the waiting, and the signs announcing arrivals and departures to and from far-flung, exciting locations. I loved every second of it. My future travel goals include Alaska, back to Russia and Ukraine, Africa, and India, as well as Syria, Israel, and Afghanistan.

So, that's the first post and I'll be back soon to post more about my creations and my efforts at living the creative life.