and now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

wow, i was beginning to think that i hated the month of january. like, really hate it......

today is the first day that i have felt like our family is back in their routine since the kids got out of school for christmas. 

let me just tell you guys, i struggle staying organized even when i am in a routine. 

so when that routine gets thrown out of the window, i'm pretty much lost.

after 2 1/2 weeks of christmas break, we have seriously not had an entire week of school here in middle tennessee because of "snow days". to all those north of our great state, our kind of snows would be a blip on their radar screen. but because we are the south and totally unequipped to deal with even a dusting of fluffy white flakes, all things must come to a complete halt. 

(seriously! i was with some friends at dinner on a thursday night and got kicked out of the restaurant at 8:45!) 

and don't even think about your kids going to school!!!

don't get me wrong, i am a slacker at heart, so the sleeping late, wearing pjs all day, and getting to really play with my kids has been awesome and all. but i've been so busy doing all of those things, my house is a wreck, my refrigerator is empty and there is a lot of catching up to do. and let's just be honest, when you get stuck in one of those lazy cycles, it makes it even harder to get motivated to do ANYTHING AT ALL!

and then i found my bliss! 

last week i was privileged to attend a fantastic conference called blissdom.
blissdom is a social media conference for (mostly) women and it was a big ole kick in the seat of my pants.
i learned so much that my brain literally felt like scrambled eggs. blissdom was full of women who do it all. work out of the home, take care of kids, blog, run a business from home, write books, etc. and look great while doing it all.

i was able to hear two amazing keynote speakers, brene brown and scott stratten.
to me, they were worth the cost of  admission alone.

then there were all of the sessions. being a newbie, i found all kinds of valuable information in most of these panel discussions. i even learned a lot just sitting around and talking to those women who are veteran bloggers. i found most people were happy to talk to me and answer all of my questions like "what is a twitter handle?" and "SEO? huh?"

of course, as with anything in life, there were moments i felt awkward and situations that were less than ideal, but i kind of went into this conference with an open mind, ready to take it for whatever it was.
it definitely helped to have the most awesome "wing mom" to always be able to turn to if things got a little weird.
alethea, i could not have done it without you!!

overall, blissdom was pure bliss for me and i can't wait for next year!

and it happened in january....

i think maybe i'll give january another chance....

blissdom... here i come!

this wednesday i am stepping out of my comfort zone....

my awesome bloggie friend and i are attending the 2011 blissdom conference in nashville at the opryland hotel.
this year's slogan is "think big. be bold. create your bliss." 

well, i don't know about you, but i sure could use a little of all of that in my life.

i am a total newbie to this blogging thing and i have never really been that much of a writer, so it is very probable that i will be the most inexperienced person there.

i am super scared but really excited.

wait... let me say that again... i am SUPER SCARED but really excited!

i swear thinking about meeting a lot of the bloggers i've followed for years gives me
puffy hives and giddy butterflies all at the same time.

the truth is, i have a lot of ideas for my blog but i constantly struggle with self doubt.
(i'm a teeny bit of a perfectionist...)
 what if my ideas stink? what if no one cares? will i look foolish?

however, from what i've read, many of the bloggers whose ideas i love have felt the same way.

so that's why i'm stepping out of my warm, comfy nest at home and putting myself out there to meet some new people who know more about blogging than i do.
i look forward to learning all that i can possibly absorb in those 3 days.
i am challenging myself to think big, be bold, and create my own bliss.....

and i can't wait to share it with you!

burlap banner - day 12 of the crafty days of christmas (very, very late!)

so, here's the last craft for the 12 crafty days of christmas series.

a burlap banner.

a couple of years ago, i purchased this awesome nativity scene. it's white and glittery and i absolutely love it. however, there is a big, blank space of wall over the place where i display it.

it desperately needed something over it.

don't you agree? so i decided to make a burlap banner displaying the reason for the season,

the name of our Savior, Jesus.

i've seen many burlap banners on the web made many different ways. here's what i used...

brown burlap

unbleached muslin

gold metallic paint

gold leafing pen

fabric glue (you could also use hot glue)

decorative ribbon

and flat thumb tacks

first, i cut five squares of muslin about 3"x3"; one for each letter. then i painted a letter directly onto the muslin with a flat paint brush and my gold metallic paint. i freehanded my letters but you could also stencil the letters if that makes you feel more comfortable.

after the letters were dry, i rounded the corners of my squares and used fabric glue to glue them to my burlap. i then cut the burlap out leaving about an inch of burlap showing around the muslin and rounding off the corners on it too. 

once i had all the letters cut out, i evenly spaced them on my beautiful decorative ribbon i got in the trim section of joanns and hot glued them in place.

to secure the banner to the wall, i took flat thumb tacks and painted them with the gold paint pen.

here is the final banner!

it was just the kind of vintage touch i was looking for.

 it wasn't up very long before i had to put all of my christmas stuff away, but i look forward to putting it up again next year!

please accept my apology

hi guys.

i owe you a tutorial... and it is coming tomorrow.

i am so sorry that i am so late... i just have to let you all know that the last few weeks have kicked my butt.

totally, completely, and without mercy KICKED MY BUTT!

i had every intention of posting my last tutorial on christmas day, but i was totally wiped after an exhausting week preparing for the holiday.

then, my intention was to post it before the new year, but we had family in town and i found out that i'm not a very good blogger when i have extra people in my house.

then, after my family made their way home, my mom had a very serious health scare.

(she's doing much better now, praise God!)

once i was able to sort of recover emotionally from dealing with that, we had 4 snow days which means ALL of my kids were in the house for four days begging to be entertained.

all of this is to say, i'm new to this blogging thing 

and i've learned how easy it is to plan to write about something,

but to actually find the time to do so is very challenging.  

especially with all of the curve balls that have been thrown at me lately.

so please, please, please forgive me and come back tomorrow to check out the last tutorial for the 12 crafty days of christmas.

 look at it this way, you'll have 338 days to get it done for christmas 2011! :)