Day 244: Photography of Crater Lake

Today is my lovely husband's birthday! To celebrate, we headed over to explore Crater Lake. If you've never been, you really should. It is seriously one of my new favorite places in the WORLD. So get on a plane, come visit us, and we'll take you there.

Here are some pictures I snapped throughout the day.

And we're off!

Birthday dude!

Crater Lake--average 1500 feet deep!

Wildflowers

Hiked out to see this waterfall!

Pinnacles---crazy!

We both agreed that we could spend a lot longer than a day there. There are so many awesome trails and off shoots to explore. What a cool place! 

Days 242 & 243: Design & Photoshop (Business Cards)

My brother makes some sweet stuff but never has any business cards so I thought I'd furnish him with some! He is in the Grand Rapids, MI area so give him a call if you want any furniture, remodeling, or carpentry work done. Here is a link to his Etsy page if you want any beautiful cutting boards.

Here are my sketches:

And the final product:

Days 236-241: Decorating

Time: HOURS
Listening to: Ipod mix

We arrived in Oregon and have been busy unpacking and decorating. It is crazy how long it takes to feel settled in. Anyways, here are some pictures of my favorite decorating moments:

My cute new mantel!

I love my map wall!

I love my circles above the windows and my color coordinated bookshelf!

I really love my asparagus towel!!!!!

My cute little work space.

Days 232-235 Knitting

Time: A couple hours
Listening to: NPR

During our moving journey, we listened to a lot of NPR. Unfortunately, we never found those fun NPR programs like Radiolab. Instead we just listened to the same news stories over and over. Kind of boring..but boy do I feel informed! Anyways, I knitted away while seeing the country pass! It is quite a journey to travel from Michigan to Oregon! You should try it some day!

Day 231: Balancing Art

I picked beans today from my family's garden and suddenly found myself absorbed in balancing them. My mom came upstairs and said "Just like you were a kid...."

I guess it's in my blood to play with whatever is in front of me!  It was surprisingly difficult to balance beans!

Day 230: Photography of Lake Michigan

I spent a lovely day at St. Joseph with my parents today! I snapped some pictures throughout the day and thought I'd share them on here.

Days 228 & 229: Knitting

Back to knitting for a few days...

Day 227: Sewing--Afghan style

I sewed on my latest strip of blue on my afghan. It is turning out so nice--and cozy!

Days 224, 225 and 226: Relapse

OOPS,

Somehow doing something creative just slipped my mind these couple of days. How that happened, I do not know!

Days 222 & 223: Drawing

Since all of my creating supplies are packed up, I am getting a wee bit sick of knitting. So tonight, I grabbed my sketch pad and started doodling different ideas for upcoming projects I'd like to do. Nothing fancy, just nice to mix it up a bit!

Day 221: Knitting

Time: 1 1/2
Listening to: The Olympics

So I was racing against my yarn ball today! I really wanted to finish my blue border before I ran out of my yarn and it was soo close! How close?

This close:

Unfortunately I do not have enough to stitch it together but hopefully I can get a hold of some soon!

Day 220: Relapse (trip to Shipshewana, IN!)

So on Wednesday, my mom and I took a trip to Amish country: Shipshewana, Indiana!

We had such a fun day eating, shopping, and exploring. I was also really inspired by all of the Amish quilts that I saw throughout the day. Last night, I could hardly fall asleep because I was trying to figure out how to do some of the quilts that I saw!

A few of my favorite parts of the day:

• A fabric store that had more fabric than I ever dreamed possible!!!!!!

• Taste testing a gazillion different cheeses at the cheese factory

• A delicious cinnamon roll that words cannot even describe.

• My mom being recognized at a furniture store because she frequents it so often!

• Amish quilts--my mom got me a quilt hot pad souvenir!

• A great tea shop that we ended up getting 3 different teas to try--above is Caramel Creme!

• Taffy and those hilarious egg gummies pictured above

• And most importantly, a wonderful day spent with my mom! We had a great time that included laughing, good conversation and even some tears! :)

Days 216-219: Knitting

Time: 2.5
Listening to: The Olympics!

So I am not doing super well on keeping tack of my creative time. I've had some days that I didn't quite make my hour goal but I think overall I've done about 2 1/2 hours during these past four days. Anyways, I'm working on adding on one of my blue borders to my afghan. Instead of counting my rows all the time, I just started safety pinning it together. I couldn't find a stash of safety pins so instead I used some hoops to tie it together. Here is my progress so far:

Day 214 & 215: Knitting

Time: Two hours
Listening to: The Olympics!

I was a little distraught because I ran out of yarn and the closest yarn store is a 1/2 hour away from where we are living now. What is a girl supposed to do?

Well, I went through this giant yarn stash that I had been hoarding at my parents house and...by golly, there was the exact yarn I had run out of!

Let the knitting begin!

Day 213: Photography (Flowers)

My hubby and I are currently located in Kalamazoo with my parents before we take the big leap over to Oregon. My parents have a beautiful property with tons of trees, flowers, birds, swampland, and a multitude of other critters.

I  bore the heat of the day and took some shots of some of the stunning flowers my mom has worked so hard on this year!

Day 211 & 212 Relapse---We're moving!

Today is officially our get-out-of-the-apartment date!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of the day:

With a little help from baking soda, my stove looks ahh-mazing!

The cutest packing I've done...

My staging ground...

Day 210: Design of Moving Announcements

Time: 1 1/2 hours
Listening to: MasterChef/Project Runway

So I made a little moving announcement and sent it off to friends and family this evening!

Day 209: Knitting

Time: Hour
Listening to: THE OLYMPICS!

Gosh, I love the Olympics. I could watch them 24/7 probably.

I had only a wee bit of yarn left but I decided to knit until I couldn't knit any more.

Day 208: Relapse

Whew, today was an emotional day! I had to say good bye to my wonderful coworkers as it was my last day at work. They were so super sweet to me--which made it even harder to say good bye!

Then as soon as I got home, Nate and I packed up another load in the truck and hauled it down to our soon to be temporary home.

A lot to deal with and now more than ever, I should be creating and using this outlet, but somehow it just didn't fit into my day.

The Olympics did begin tonight, though, so I can't complain too much!

Day 206 & 207: Knitting

In the midst of packing, I've been knitting!

Proof:

Day 204 & 205: Sewing Easy Skirt

Time: 1 1/2 hours?
Listening to: MasterChef

I had a dress that was a bit too low cut and a bit too short so naturally, I hacked it off and made it into a skirt!

And now I have a new skirt...

Day 203: Knitting

Time: 1 1/2 hours
Listening to: Trust Us With Your Life

We packed up our kitchen and clothes today...really making some progress! I can't believe that we will be moving out of GR in a week and two days. Yikes!

Anyways, TV and knitting is my relaxing evening tonight.

Here is proof of my progress:

Favorite Stumbled On Links

A few of my favorite things!!

Nate saving my life in Ithaca, New York!

I would go to any of these places in a heart beat.

I want a map table!

Love love love this painting.

I really want to do this to a set of chairs/table (Middle picture...) 

I want to make these pillows for my nephew!

I love this video of Bill Gates jumping over a chair. So funny.

Chameleon Band-Aids!!

Day 201: Weaving

Time: Under an hour
Listening to: Spotify

I finished up my weaving project from way back on Day 73! Not exactly sure what I'll do with it but I kind of like it!

Day 200: Sewing Guest Book Quilt

Time: A couple hours
Listening to: Gossip Girl (guilty as charged)


I sewed sewed sewed my little heart out tonight! I finally got all those squares sewed up. Yay!

Day 197-199: Relapse (Moving)

So, I made some more progress on moving...

Slowly but surely, right??

Day 196: Quilting Guest Book Quilt

Time: 1+ hours
Listening to: Top Chef (Season 5)

I started sewing up all those squares!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 195: Quilting Guest Book Quilt

Time: 3 hours
Listening to: Top Chef

As I mentioned before, I'm putting together a Guest Book Quilt for my sister-in-law. Her wedding was last week and I'm just getting around to ironing each piece and then laying them out. I'm hoping that I can keep working on this as I'm trying to pack up my apartment. My goal is to keep being creative even though I am just a bit stressed with all the upcoming changes. Being creative helps me a lot in handling stress, so I'm hoping I can keep this up!

Anyways, here is a picture of the squares laid out!

Day 194: Drawing

Time: Less than an hour
Listening to: MasterChef

So my husband traveled to Oregon, our soon to be new home, and found us an apartment! I doodled around for a bit tonight and drew some pictures of my soon to be place!

 It looks a little bit like a fifth grader's work but...I kinda like it!

Day 192-193: Relapse

Ok, ok. I know. I relapsed AGAIN. I had some lovely friends come into town and my productivity level went downnnnn...
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Day 191: GIF Shark Drawing

Time: Under an hour
Listening to: Spotify Radio

So I made this little shark toy for my nephew! I got the idea from here!

Anyways, here is my little GIF of my little shark.



gif maker

Days 184-190: RELAPSE

Life has been just a wee bit crazy lately! Here is what has been delaying my creative time:

• 100 degree temps
• Traveling to Wisconsin 
• Sister-in-law's beautiful wedding!
• Helping my brother and sister-in-law pick up debris from re-roofing their house
• Moving across country
• Dropping hubby off at the train station to travel to Oregon to find an apartment!
• PACKING!!!!!!

Here is some unnecessary proof of my packing progress....

I promise, I'll get back to creative time soon!

Day 183: Wedding Survival Kit

Time: An hour or so
Listening to: Spotify Radio

My lovely sister-in-law is getting married this weekend and I am her personal attendant! In preparation, I put together a little survival kit to tote around all day to have everything she could possibly ever need!

Here is a little sneak peak:

Day 182: Quilt Guest Book Quilt

Time: 1 hour
Listening to: ?

Working on my sister-in-law's wedding quilt again

Days 180-181: Quilt

Time: 3-4 hours so far??
Listening to: Spotify radio

I'm working on a project for my sister-in-law's upcoming wedding! Instead of a traditional guestbook, she is going to have a quilt guestbook--based off of this one here. 

So, I've been busy cutting squares, painting with fabric paint, and sewing! Whew!