Catch-Up

Well Hello Again :)

     It has been a couple of weeks since I have created a post. I have been crafting though. How about a quick update on me and my crafts? This is essentially my therapy anyway right? I hope I don't have to pay you guys now. (Mostly just my sister since she is the one who reads this. Hi M!)

    Yay for having a mostly clean house so I can craft. I don't know how you guys are, but I can't get anything fun done if I know I have other things to do. I struggle with keeping things in order. I'm not sure if it's ADD or being scatterbrained, but I tell you guys I am the dog from "UP".... Squirrel! For years my house has been a wreck, and it makes me depressed. Then my house is a wreck because I'm depressed. It's a vicious Catch 22. I needed a change. Enter FlyLady.

     If you guys don't know who the FlyLady is, you should look her up! She is a wonderful woman that has started a system of "baby steps" to make house cleaning a habit. It's definitely a struggle for me, but my routines based on her system keep the fight going. I no longer have guilt when I do something for myself, such as CRAFTING!


   Well I haven' t made anything spectacular in a while, but I have been making a few little things here and there. The biggest being inserts for my new Filofax. I purchased the A5 Finsbury in black. It is absolutely beautiful. Initially I was scared that I would hate the black. I was concerned it would be too masculine (not to mention I was really wanting raspberry). Though, considering 95% of my wardrobe matches the colors of 1950s television, the black suites me much better.(Seriously my wardrobe was printed in grayscale)


   I had this image in my head of it coming as a complete calendar full of all the inserts I could want  need. (I would always want more) With Filofax, you have a small starter kit that gives you your essentials.  Part of the "wonderfulness" of these beautiful binders is how customizable they are to your needs. Just look up "Filofax" on YouTube, and you will see what I mean. The company I purchased from was out of the week on two pages that doesn't have the little schedule thing on it, so I decided to make my own.  Plus I have decided I need a day on two pages. This means two pages for every one day... well I think that's what I need. I'm hoping having everything in one spot will help me keep my days organized.  The ones I made are sooo cute, but not all that functional.

(Sorry if this is small or blurry, had to use a screen shot as I'm travelling)

 I didn't really leave myself much room to write. I do have one success, that is my new Month on Two Pages I made tonight.

More blurry small images. When I print them out all beautiful I will revise :)

    There truly is a lot of work that goes into setting up a planner to fit your needs.(much more than I realized) For the time being I am still using my Vera Bradley binder and making notes of what I need my Filofax to be. I thought the A5 size would be more than enough to hold all I need, but now I'm considering a family binder as well. Can you all say "fickle"? You'd think I was picking out something permanent, like a tattoo, with all the back and forth I'm doing. Regardless, I am in love, with Filofax and the Filofax community. Yes I am a nerd who loves planners and stationery. I always have :) Now I know I'm not the only one!

   I have been doing some other things as well, but with as wordy as I am, I will save those for the next post/s. I hope you enjoyed my creations. I know they aren't spectacular, but I felt a great sense of accomplishment. Comment and let me know what you think :) Thanks for reading!

~Dusty

 

Composition Notebook

Hello Again!


I got my craft on this past week. I am so grateful for this new fun hobby. Sometimes I just need a little kick to get motivated, and I have now found the place for me :) I am a member of a Facebook group that does craft challenges. Our queue for Thursday  was "color". I wasn't sure what this meant, I thought it could mean I need to color something, or something with bright colors. So..... I did a little coloring and A LOT of bright colors!! ha! Which if you know me, I am usually an anti-bright colors or anything flashy kind of girl. This was definitely a step outside my comfort zone, but truth be told... it was a blast! I chose to alter a composition notebook as my project. Now to the Pictures :) I'll explain as best I can as we go on.

 

 

I completely forgot to take a before pic.

We all know what a composition notebook looks like right?

 

Well here is one partially covered in scrapbook paper.

 It's the Khloe Lane paper pack from The Paper Studio from Hobby Lobby

 

I would like to tell you how I measured so neatly and nicely, but I would be a dirty liar if I did. I just tore the paper out of the pack and bent it slightly around the edges so I would have an idea of the size. I then cut about 1/2-1 inch out from that small crease. Then I ATG'd that sucker like crazy. I don't know how you guys are, but I never covered stuff with paper before because... umm ....well..hello?? it's paper. It will come off and tear up, get dirty, look cheap... I could go on ..really I could. I will not though. But with all that being said... I love the adhesives today!  They make stuff stick.. like really stick. Also, I got a clear composition notebook sleeve for $.05 at Wal-Mart. Why I didn't buy like 30? I have no idea... still kicking myself. Moving on...Since I had this jacket for my notebook I went for it.

Front cover looking good already!

 

 

Next step I covered the back with the same paper as the front. When I cover these I put tape on the inside cover and fold it over to make it look better and hold tighter. You can see that.. in this next picture.

 

Sorry photo is so dark. This is what I get with a cellphone flash.

 

Now if the corners were a 90 degree angle, then folding them over would be a cinch, but composition notebooks have rounded corners. I could fold the paper over, but they would be all bunchy. I remembered a purchase I had made on  Blitsy. (that link takes you to my referral site. It's not spam or anything, just if you create an account and order, I get credit. Then you get your own link to pass on.)

 

 

 

The Precision File Set by BasicGrey. There's a really cool Youtube video about this set.

 

 Anyway I just filed off the rounded edge and it looks put together now. :) I then added a piece of blue cardstock from the same paper pack. I ran ATG adhesive all down this strip of paper before I put it on. This is something else I didn't measure, just eyeballed since it was going to be folded over anyway.

 

 After adding the blue strip I forgot to take pictures of the work in progress, but I did take final pics. Here's a run through of the steps not seen via picture. The cover needed something , and I thought flowers would be nice. I have some paper flowers that I am pretty sure I purchased on Ebay. They are in a pack of various styles in  purples and yellows. I took several of the yellows and colored them with some of my ink pads. One I even made an almost white color. This is where my first "coloring" for that challenge came from. I then punched holes in the center of the colored flowers and added an eyelet to one of them, and a brad (one large one small) to two of them. Then glued them to the cover. This step made the notebook look nice, but it was still missing something.

 

Hard to believe they were yellow huh? :)

 Please ignore the imperfections.

 

 

  I thought a title might be a nice touch, so I took one of my paper scraps and flipped it white side up. I got out my Martha Stewart Border Punch, the Framed Dots one, and another MS product, the Ornamental Typeface clear letter stamps. I punched the border on the bottom only (the set also comes with a corner punch). I inked the edges with a hot pink ink, and stamped the word "NOTES" in Colorbox "Blackbird" chalk ink. I used a lime green Stabilio pen to fill in the little shapes on the letters. I used a Sakura white "Souffle" pen to put false stitching on the side of the blue spine cover.

 

 



 To balance the details I added some tabs punched with the We R Memory Keepers TAB punch. I used the file tab version. Then added a little paper to the inside and back cover. (I don't have pictures of that because it was an afterthought)

 

 

Thanks for reading you guys! Hope the directions were clear. If you have any questions, or comments, please leave them below. :)

 

~Dusty

 















A Past Project

Hello again! Two times within 24 hours.. actually like 12 hours. Can anyone tell I'm just a little bit excited? Heck even if no one ever reads this.. it feels almost cathartic to get my thoughts out there. I figured since I said I like to (attempt to) be crafty, I should show some pictures. I mean they are my favorite part of blogs anyway.

So you should know.. Christmas... is the bee's knees to me. I am ready for Christmas by March. By "ready" I mean that I listen to Christmas music when I clean and have to fight the urge to put up my tree. I love the decorations, the weather, the clothes, the spirit in the air, and most of all giving gifts. Come on, isn't that the reason for the season? To give to others just as God gave his son to us? For me, giving a gift is as much about the giver as the givee (or recipient to be correct) I love knowing what people think of the gifts that I spend so much time choosing for them. In case you can't tell I am not a gift card buyer.. well not unless I truly think that gift card is what they will enjoy. It bugs me to no end when people seem to forget that it's definitely not the gift its self, but the thought behind it. I have a family member or two or three, that consistently give lists or demands of what they want for them and/or their family. It completely ruins the fun of the surprise and the hunt for the perfect present.

 With the exception of my children, I never ask what someone wants. I pay attention all year, and at times start buying as early as the Spring. I will admit, I have had a few flops, but I'd say my success rate is at least 95%. This is from pure scientific research people.. :-) One of my very favorite things in the world to do is make gift baskets. I'm still fairly new at it(since I don't get many excuses to make them), but I love the balance between function and beauty. I make it a goal to never put in anything that is just a "filler" goody. You know the one thing in the gift baskets that no one usually eats, but to fill the basket they get added anyway?

I made these baskets Christmas 2011... oh maybe it was 2010.. well I captioned the picture as 2011.. so we'll say late 2010 and early 2011. These were made at the request of my husband. He was still in medical school at the time, so he was wanting to thank some hospitals and doctors for the time he had spent with them. I'm going to confess.. these baskets are terrible to look at now.. (I am much better now), but I was soo proud of them at the time. Also, the quality of the pics aren't amazing as these were taken back when I had an iphone 4. Feel free to comment! I would love to get feedback :-)

 

 

Thanks for Reading!

 

~Dusty 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very First Post! Yay!

Hello to anyone reading! My name is Dusty, and this is my blog. I'm super excited to make a blog. I have been an avid blog stalker for months now, and it is about time I joined those people I admire so much. Right? Of course. It's like playing kick ball, you may be picked last, but you won't be picked at all if you don't line up. (hope that makes as much sense to you guys as it did in my head)

Well... where to start? I'm married to the only man who is my perfect fit. I get my head in the clouds quite often, but his feet are always firmly on the ground. He is an amazing husband, father, and provider for our family. I have two children, a girl, almost 8, I'll call her RR for now( just to be safe). I also have a son, freshly 4, and we'll call him RL. I get to stay home with the little one, and I will be finishing a degree in mathematics once he starts his educational adventure :)

I should warn all of you.. any of you.. I ramble, and I type basically how I speak. Many "..."'s and "umms" I'm writing this for fun, and I hope to make it fun to read.  This post will be very short, but I will share with you where the title of this blog comes from.

“Oh, God of Dust and Rainbows,
Help us to see
That without the dust the rainbow
Would not be.”
~Langston Hughes

I could dissect that all day long, and tell you all the ways and reasons I love that quote. However, I will simply say, I am a hot mess MUCH of the time,but it's through my faults that I become a better me. I also really like that my name is Dusty and it says Dust... taken me 20-something years to embrace my name, but better late than never :) Thanks for reading!!
~Dusty