Why I Haven't Been Updating...

Thirteen books for five classes. Yeah...its keeping me pretty busy. I promise I'm working on it though.

Does This Make Me a Traitor?

I now have one of these in my car and a University of Utah ID in my wallet.

Why? Next week I will be starting school here.

I am super excited for this opportunity. Fourteen straight months of school and next August I will have a degree in nursing!

No, Carson and I aren't moving to Salt Lake...I am commuting. Tomorrow I will try out the bus on my way to orientation. It should be interesting, but at least I don't have to deal with traffic. 

Wish me luck!

Holidays Lately

Since I am so behind, I am just going to do a St. Patrick's Day and Easter overview and try to be much better about blogging in a more timely manner. :)

For St. Patrick's Day, Carson and I hosted a brunch for a few friends. We had green pancakes, green syrup, milk (Carson talked me in to not dying it green), Lucky Charms, eggs, and fruit. 

It was quite a spread. I got the ideas for the food and the printables from this post on one of my favorite blogs. I thought it turned out looking great and tasting even better.

For Easter I made some new canvases and posted them on Etsy. This time I decided to do a little springtime collection. 

I have to stop and give a big thanks to Carson for helping me with these canvases. I bought a different material this time and it was impossible to work with and I could not have done it without his help. Let's just say I am not buying that brand of canvas again. 

My mom bought the set and created a really cute Easter mantle. 

On Easter itself Carson and I enjoyed a really nice ham Easter dinner at his parents house - complete with a carrot cake in the shape of a bunny. I wish I would have taken a picture of the table set up because it was beautiful. We have both been so busy with school and work and adult responsibilities (like taxes...uck) that we didn't even have time to dye eggs. Sad. Let's just say we are very excited for a little break once this semester is over. 

SAMply Irresistible

Lately I have been obsessed with subway art, creating things (with my Silhouette Cameo especially), and decorating for holidays. So, I decided to combine them all in my latest project - St. Patrick's Day subway art on canvas...and I wanted to share it with you. 

Although I used my Cameo to help make this, there is no vinyl or paper on the canvas...just paint. That way the cool texture of the canvas shows through the entire thing. See?

I have been thinking about creating a shop on Etsy for a while now to share and sell my projects, and I was so pleased with the way this piece turned out that I decided to just go for it. So, I now have at Etsy shop - SAMply Irresistible (get it? sam + simply irresistible). So far this is the only thing in my shop, but I am working on an Easter version and I have a million other ideas...so it won't be alone for long. So...you should go check it out!

Valentine's Day

This past Valentine's Day was pretty low key. We agreed not to get each other gifts and just go out to dinner together. But, just because we said we weren't going to get each other anything doesn't mean we didn't - we ended up surprising each other with small gifts. 

What Carson came home to.

What he brought home with him.

My gift to Carson was a little more than meets the eye...

It included a list of reasons I love him, some coupons, and a scratch off card for various small acts of service from me. 

I first saw the scratch-off card on Pinterest and followed the link to this site that had a downloadable card and the instructions. I didn't want to buy the contact paper these instructions required so I decided to use my Silhouette Cameo (I love this machine) to make the card my way. How? Let me show you - this is a really fun and easy idea for any occasion.

Download the card from the Better Homes and Gardens website and use photoshop or a word document program to get rid of the words on the top (or just make your own card). Print it out on card stock, cut it out, and then write different things in the hearts (I included one that said "sorry, you are not a winner" just for fun).

Once the card is filled out, cover the section with the hearts with a strip of clear packing tape (I have a picture of this but you can't even tell tape is on top, so I decided not to include it). Then mix approximately two parts silver metallic acrylic paint and one part dish soap. This is not an exact science - just get it to a consistency that works for you. I ended up adding a little more paint after I took this picture.

Paint your paint/soap mixture over the tape. Wait until the paint is completely dry and paint another layer if needed. It took me about three layers to cover the words completely. 

Use the print and cut feature of the Cameo to print the card out again (this time with the words included) and then cut it with holes where the hearts are. To do this with the Silhouette I just imported the card into Silhouette Studio and selected the hearts only in the cutting area. Basically it looked like this.

If you don't have a Cameo you can definitely still do this. You could cut the shapes by hand or use a hole punch. If you decided to make your own version of this project for a different holiday you could make a card with circular holes and cut them out with a circular hole punch super easy. So many possibilities!

Finally, I glued the card with the hearts cut out on top of the card with the paint. It worked perfectly - Carson picked one, scratched it off with a penny, and was able to see the words right where they were supposed to be. 

p.s. I cut the coupon tickets and the envelope with the Silhouette Cameo too. I am telling you, this machine is amazing. 

Anyway, it was a great, relaxing Valentine's Day. I love just getting to relax and spend time with my favorite boy (and any reason to make something crafty).

From the Bookshelf

If I continue to bore you all with my thoughts on various books maybe I should come up with some kind of rating system. Hmmm, I'll think about that one.

For now I have two books to share. First...

Okay, I know a lot of people loved this book, and a lot of people didn't love the movie, so I gave it a shot. If you haven't read it, it follows the self-discovery journey of a woman experiencing a mid-life crisis of sorts. She decides to take a year off and travel, spending four months in Italy to indulge (eat), four months in India to learn from her spiritual guru (pray), and then four moths in Bali to practice the art of balancing the two (love). 

This book had some amusing parts and I enjoyed her commentary of the various countries, but I found it hard to relate a lot of the time - and I feel if I am going to be spending my time reading about one person and their opinions and experiences I should at least be able to relate. I could relate to her time in Italy (if you know me you know I love to eat) and somewhat to her time in India (different religions and all), but once she got to Bali I was completely separated from her. Maybe I would have liked it more if I was a thirty-something professional in the middle of a divorce with money to burn...but I'm not. Either way, I am glad she found her happiness.

Then...

I thought this book was really fun. I mean, who doesn't like the circus (even though I realized as I was reading this that I have never been to a circus before). This book tells the story of a young man who ran away and joined a circus during the depression as he is remembering/dreaming about it many years later. It jumps back and forth between his circus life and his current life at an assisted living facility. I think I liked his current life more than most would because I work with men just like him at an assisted living facility. It was fun to make comparisons. Anyway, the description of life as a circus worker was very entertaining. The story kept me captivated and I felt attached to the characters. I haven't seen the movie yet and I don't know if I want to...I like the way the story looks in my head (I just can't picture a vampire as the main character...and yes Robert Pattinson will always be a vampire to me, sorry). Regardless, I definitely recommend this one.

Up next...a book lent to me by my aunt.

Super Bowl XLVI

I don't have to tell you that the New York Giants are a big deal around our house...so it was a very happy day when they made it to the Super Bowl. 

It was also my father-in-law's (FIL? is that a thing?) birthday dinner that day so we kind of combined the parties. My MIL made an amazing dinner, we watched my FIL (yep...I'm making it a thing) open his birthday presents, and then we watched the game with some typical Super Bowl party treats. 

Unfortunately, this is the only picture I have from that day.

The seven layer dip I made for the party.

It was close but, as you most likely already know, the Giants came out victorious.

Carson was very excited of course and we still have the game recorded on our DVR. I have a feeling I won't be allowed to delete it for a while. 

I really need to be better at taking pictures of our life...