The Anymore...In a Barn.

This weekend Autumn and I drove to a barn...a barn in Idaho to be precise.

They've been having snow flurries in Idaho through the week, but we saw no such thing and even saw a beautiful sunset over the Palouse.

So you might ask, why did we go to a barn in Idaho? Well, to see our dear Ali's band, The Anymore, perform at their first album release concert which was held in this lovely barn, of course!

And we felt special because we got to help with the merchandise table. Lots of buttons and their fabulous CD for sale!

It was a great show and we were glad to have some Ali time over the weekend. Her husband Paul is the one with the accordion and is the lead singer in the band. They have a fun folk americana rock sound--wanna check them out? You can listen to their music here or by becoming a fan of The Anymore on facebook. What are you waiting for? You can also see more photos of the event on Ali's blog.

Flower Bracelet

I found this idea on a really fun blog called Ruffles and Stuff and decided to give it a try for a mother's day gift. I ended up making one for each of my family members going to the Mother/Daughter Banquet as well as one for Ali who celebrated her birthday this week. For the whole tutorial, check out the original here.

So I started out with an ugly little pot of fake flowers from the dollar store (which was going out of business so I got a steal of a deal and only paid $.90 for this baby!).

I also found these necklaces at the same dollar store--again $.90 each and I figured they'd be great to take apart and use the beads and ribbon for some sort of project. For this project, you will also need some felt ($.29 per sheet at the fabric store and you can make 4 bracelets from each sheet).

So then I had fun sewing the felt into cuffs with velcro attached. Then I went to town tearing apart the flowers and reassembling them into these lovely rose bracelets with a hot glue gun and a pearly bead to top it off.

Cute huh? The felt seems strong but I think next time I might use a ribbon instead because it's a little classier. Don't forget you can click on the link at the top for more detailed instructions! Over all it was a fun little project and didn't take too much time. Plus, when you add it all up I think each bracelet cost about $1.00 to make. Can't beat that!

Take Me Out to the...

Freeeeezing Mariner's Game!!

Ben came home from Cali this week--as did Jeff and Trudy who got to visit friends and family in so-Cal for the weekend, so we had a little family reunion at the Mariners game. It felt like the middle of winter so we were all bundled up with lots of layers and despite the major loss our team provided, we all had a nice time being together.

Yay! Uncle Ben is home! He's so cool!

My Trudy girl and I have a history of going to Mariners games together.

Here we are back in 2004 when the Mariners came to Anaheim!

Happy Happy Birthday...

...to my sister, Ruth! Ruth, I'm thankful for your example of a godly woman and your sweet care for your family. I know you are a woman of prayer and I am so thankful for your faithful prayers on my behalf. Your friendship is a treasure to me. Hope your day is fabulous and pray many blessings and new adventures for you in this coming year! Love you, Ruthy!

Happy Birthday, Alexandra!

Mrs. Tong is 24 today! I love you, Ali Kaye and am praying a happy day and a blessed year for you. Can't wait to see you this weekend!

The ULTIMATE Sourcebook

My friend Jessica gave this book to me for Christmas this week--yes, I said Christmas this week even though it is May. It's a long story but it is actually kind of fun getting a present in the middle of the year. With my birthday being only 10 days after Christmas, I usually have to be content with taking in the goods once a year...Well, I am super excited to try out some of the patterns in this book. If you love knitting or crocheting, you would love this book! It really is the ULTIMATE Sourcebook of Knitting and Crochet Stitches and has page after page of patterns with a picture for each one. Okay so time to pull out the knitting needles and yarn again. Maybe I'll have something to show you soon!

Rope Necklace DIY

Originally I intended this blog to be a way to share the Crafty projects I like to tinker in. However, somehow (between school, work and life) many of the projects I have in mind to try have been put on the back burner. BUT this week I found a really simple DIY to try (via a blog Ali shared of a conglomeration of ideas for Mother's Day DIYs). Since I was going to JoAnn's to buy fabric for a rag quilt (which I finished this week but you will have to wait to see until I deliver it to its recipient), I grabbed the 3 things that I would need to make a trendy Rope Necklace.

First step: visit the curtain aisle at your local store that carries curtain ties. I went to the fabric store, but I'm guessing you could find them at Wal-Mart even? Good news for me, they were on SALE!! 40% off--wooohooo! So I picked out 4 colors that I liked and paid $2.99 each instead of $4.99.

Pick out 2 that match well and loop them together.

Then knot them together.

Finally, thread a ribbon through the ends and tie it around your neck in a bow and voila! You have a beautiful knotted rope necklace! Pretty simple huh? You can find the full tutorial from the lady who created it here.

. Okay, I'll admit that I'm a little bit scared to pull off this style--it is a little bulky and reminds me vaguely of a slave or a cow with a rope around their neck...ha...but I'm going to be brave and try it out at least once. I decided to give the other one to Ruth for her birthday so she can be brave with me! So you should try making one so we can all be trendy together! :-)