I had some great news today!

I had some awesome news today...

I won something! Something awesome!

I won Betz White's my word giveaway! http://blog.betzwhite.com/

I get to have my word for this year on a necklace made by Lisa Leonard!

I am so excited, I can hardly stand it!

My word for this year is Simplify. One of the ways I am Simplifying my life is to clean my house on a regular schedule.

Today, I managed to get my third week of cleaning my house on schedule done, and early.

Our dogs would not let us sleep past 5 this morning.

I am not one who can just sit around in the mornings.

I have to be doing something.

I got all my major housework done this morning before 6 A.M.

That left the rest of the day to craft.

I cut backgrounds for my Cathedral Window foundation. I cut 56 or more background squares and twice that many window inserts. I hope to have a photo tomorrow to show. I would do it tonight, but I am getting ready to cook dinner, and I am watching the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale car auction with my sweetie.

Hope everyone has an awesome day!

Donnelly

More on the great week!

My great week started with my friend, Robyn, loving her camera strap.

I liked it so much I made myself one using Moda's Basic Grey Urban Chic. And I love it!

The next day that made my week awesome was Wednesday. Two things happened on Wednesday.

First, Hannah and I took her friend, Brittani's senior pictures. Her yearbook photo was due on Friday, not a lot of time but we got 82 pictures between 4 P.M. and 6 P.M. I will share some of my favorites.

In the "Old Towne" area of our town is this amazing blue door. Hannah and I LOVE it. So many people take photos in front of it that someone has built stairs to get up to it. I took Hannah's senior pictures at this door. This is one that I took.

Then Hannah took over and the results are amazing!

This one is at our city park looking toward St. Edward's Catholic church.

This one was taken at our Centennial Water Park in our Snake River Canyon. This place has special meaning for Britt. It was where her Junior Prom photos were taken.

Our Snake River Canyon has springs that leak through the walls. This is just on the right hand side of the road coming out of the canyon. The ice is beautiful! I took my son and daughter-in-law's engagement photos close to this area 2 1/2 years ago.

This one made me very nervous. This is a ledge that the kids climb down to stand under the waterfall in the summer. Hannah tested it before she put Britt on it.The tree behind her has a root base is 30 feet straight down. The tree is covered in ice because of the spray from the waterfall. The coolie that supplies this waterfall is a warm water coolie so it runs all year.

This one was taken on the edge of our canyon rim on a lookout trail. Still made me nervous as there was less than a foot of dirt before there was a sheer drop to the canyon floor. Kids are fearless!

Britt was a trooper. It was so cold and the wind was more than a little brisk. We were all freezing by the time we were done. Who knew you could take Senior photos in the middle of winter?

The second thing that made Wednesday awesome, was my grandson Jackson's 3rd birthday party. It was held at a local pizza joint called Maxie's.

Hannah loving Lily. Lily is sucking her thumb. Hannah and Lily are kindred spirits. Hannah still sucks her thumb.

Jackson in the middle of the present frenzy.

Rick and I gave Jackson the digital camera that he used during his Aunt Cassie's wedding. And he immediately wanted to take photos. This is a boy after his grandma's heart!

This is the amazing cake that Jackson's Nana Diana made. She has some amazing cake skills. He loved it!

Not much else happened that was blog worthy happened this weel. But what happened made it an awesome week!

Have a great day!
Donnelly

P.S. I made my goal of cleaning my house 2 weeks in a row! WooHoo!

An awesome week!

This week was awesome!

It passed really fast!

And I got to do some really fun things!

Will post all about it tomorrow.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Saturday and Sunday crafty progress

I managed to be crafty both Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday I managed to get a muslin background row made for my Cathedral Windows wallhanging. I would share a photo, however a single row is boring. I will share the complete background once it is the right size.

I also managed to get my Christmas tree and decorations put away. Now I am sad, my house feels naked...

I also managed to clean my house between yesterday and today. I am doing a happy dance!

Today I crafted. I made a camera strap cover. I made it for a friend that had a bad week at work last week. I don't know all the details, just that it was a bad week.

Here it is being modeled on my Nikon strap. It is made with part of an Aviary charm pack.

I hope she likes it.

Have a great day.

Donnelly

My craft for last night

Last night while I was watching TV, I actually sat and crafted. I finished a Grandmother's Flower Garden flower!

This is a project that I have been working on for a while, at least a couple of years.
I love hand piecing quilts. It is my preferred method of quilting.

My Grandmother's Flower Garden is in batiks. It will have solid black pathways between each flower. I am sure the batiks will pop! Here are the ones I have completed so far.

Tonight I am planning on working on my cathedral windows wall hanging.
Yesterday, my baby girl turned 19!

Somehow she managed to fit 19 candles on her slice of cake!

She treated herself to a new tattoo for her birthday.

This is her third one and probably not her last one. She loves them.

Hopefully I will have progress to show on my cathedral windows wall hanging tomorrow, or maybe Sunday. I have to take my Christmas stuff down and put it away tomorrow. It takes quite a while to wrap all my vintage ornaments.

Have a great day.

Donnelly

My New Years resolution

My New Year's resolution has a lot to do with my word for the year.

Simplify

I have come up with a plan to do just that. I am resolving to clean my house weekly. I know I should be doing this anyway, but sometimes I just don't feel like it. So that is going to change. If I clean it weekly, it will be less work in the long run. This will simplify my life.

I love to do so many things. So I am going to set aside an evening each week for a craft I love. I will be able to get more of my projects done. I will be able to get back to making homemade gifts for my friends and family for birthdays and holidays. This will simplify my life.

I am going to organize my craft room closet. It has been utter chaos since we have moved into our current house at the beginning of September. I will have my crafty stuff out of boxes and more importantly, out of the basement. I will be able to see what I have and not spend money on items that I know I already have, but can't locate. This will simplify my life.

If these things don't happen for a few weeks, I am not going to stress out. I work in a high stress job. I teach children with behavior and emotional disorders. The less stress I have in my life the better. I will start asking myself before I take on a project, be it for myself or others, "Will this add stress to my life." This will simplify my life.

I plan on updating how I am doing on my resolution from time to time. To keep myself motivated and to see how far I have come.

Have a great day.

Donnelly