I've been a little busy...

Although, my husband would call it obsessed, neglectful, and probably a little selfish.

Now he's a true Jedi!

Last weekend we had Mr. Big's 7th birthday. It was a BLAST!!

He wanted to have a Star Wars party, because lately his whole world revolves around Star Wars. He's a typical boy. With a mom who likes to do very atypical birthday parties.

Yeah, I like to do big, themed, activity filled birthday parties. The kind that tend to bring out the manic, control freak, try to do it ALL (because I don't plan well) in two days kind of birthday parties. This year was especially trying for the rest of the family because I didn't actually get my birthday planning mojo until the weekend before. Yikes.

It. was. ugly.

But we pulled it off and it was awesome!

We started the party by giving all the kids Jedi tunics because they had some training to do! I made them each from a half yard of muslin with a 3 inch strip of brown broadcloth. Easy peasy.

First, we had a Pod Race. We had borrowed a couple of wagons from friends and they raced to the cones and switched, then came back. It was fun.
After completing the Pod Race, they all received lightsabers. I made the lightsabers from pool noodles with a PVC pipe inserted and then wrapped in duct tape. Each one cost less than a dollar to make, but they were A HIT!! The kids practiced with them for a while and we let them run loose, while we got everything ready for the next game, an obstacle course.

For the obstacle course, they had to go up the playset and slide down the pole, then go across a couple of balance beams. They rounded the corner and had to jump over a bench and then crawl under another bench. To show they made it all the way around they had to hit a bell (the Deathstar) that was hanging from the playset. It was crazy, but it was fun!

The kids played with the lightsabers some more while we got the cake and ice cream ready.

The cake was a big huge 4 ft lightsaber made from 6 loaf pans of cake, and everyone really liked it. It was perfect!

Gifts were opened, and the last gift was the Jedi robe I had made him the night before. (Did I mention my lack of planning?)

All in all, it was a fabulous day. I even got a "best birthday ever" from Mr. Big. Priceless.

Etsy: Revisited

It's been a while since I've paid much attention to my etsy shop, and I gotta tell ya, my sales show.

I hadn't listed anything new since the craft show I did in April, and since nothing much sold there, I have plenty of inventory.

I spent a little while listing items tonight, and still have plenty left to add, but I easily grow tired of the mundane task of listing and my mind tends to wander. So I check my facebook page, double check my gmail, and take a look at my flickr groups to make sure I'm not missing anything fabulous.

In the end, it's time I should've spent listing my inventory, but what can you do with an attention span the size of an ant?

Almost famous

Anina, a member of my first online block swap is having a give-away. You should check it out, it's totally worth it. Who doesn't love free fabric? Already cut up into perfect patchwork pieces.
And while you're there, check out the block she made for me. I almost feel famous.

A job well done (if I do say so myself)

In April I attempted my first craft show. I was so excited about it. I planned. I worked. I worked some more to make sure I had enough inventory. I was ready. And anyone who knows me, knows I'm never READY for anything. I tend to fly by the seat of my pants until the very end.

This is picture of my booth at the show. (That's my beautiful friend Brandy posing.)

I had lots of different stuff to sell, and I was really proud of the display, especially the banner I made for the table.

THE SHOW WAS A TOTAL FLOP. There was a torrential downpour ALL DAY. I really think the only people who came to the show were the little old ladies that didn't have anything else to do that day. The traffic was pretty much non-existant and most of the traffic that did come to see my products were other crafters with too much time on their hands.

However, it was not a total loss. I made some really nice contacts from other crafters that were way more experienced than me. Especially the ladies of Wire Alchemy. They are craft show pros, and were more than willing to share their wisdom of the business with me. They were so open and inviting and gave me all sorts of tips for making it to a show in a semi-compact car. They paid me a huge compliment by telling me that my booth didn't LOOK it was my first show. Yay, that's what I was going for in all my compulsive and obsessive planning. They even went one step further by asking me to make them a banner for their booth at shows. I WAS FLATTERED to say the least.

We made a deal and I made the banner. I enjoyed it so much, just knowing that another crafter asked me to do this for them. (Did I mention that they're craft show pros?)

I'm super happy with it, and I got a fabulous email from them letting me know how much they liked it as well. Thanks ladies for the fabulous 7 hours of chatting and learning, hope to see you in the craft show circuit soon!

Family Vacation

We took a trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota last week and man, was it a blast.

It was so nice to get away with my boys and have some time alone for fun and relaxation together! It was also nice to not hear "Mom, can we play Star Wars" every 3 and a half minutes. For four days! We instated a 'no electronics' rule for the trip and it didn't seem to phase anyone, especially the 6 yr old in the car.

We stayed in a great little cabin for the first two days just outside of Keystone, which is the closest town to Mt. Rushmore. It was roomy, had a kitchenette for us to fix our own food, and they had a great little fire pit, for smores of course. The owners of the property, Tammy and Rick are the nicest people, and were super helpful with our visit to their area. Their dog Chester was a friendly greeter and kept a watch over us for our stay.

We did some fishing, (didn't catch anything).

Then went to visit "the heads" as Mr. Big calls them.
We visited Sylvan Lake and fished some more (still didn't catch anything). After we tired of practicing our casts, we took a hike around the lake. The most beautiful lake I've ever seen!
We then moved on to Hot Springs, where the Mammoth Site is. How amazing! I'm not even a history buff or science geek, but I found it fascinating!

Lots of silliness ensued on the trip, and it was just a great time. Can't wait to do another family road trip somewhere. I've heard rumors of Yellowstone coming up next...

Did you hear that?

It happened at 11:36 pm here at the Johnson house. The angels sang because I FINALLY got the computer up an running. YAY!!
Posts of the craft show and trip coming soon....