We were…

chilling out on a beautiful stretch of Mexican beach
checking out the local wild life outside our door
Making waves
and living the good life under our palapa at the amazing Escencia Estate

Sigh….can we go back?  Like, TODAY perhaps?

Well hello there….yes, I know it’s been quite a while.  Things are quite out of sorts these days in my little crafty corner of our house.  Several months ago hubby and I discussed the option of moving my home office/crafty area into the room that was currently our spare bedroom.  This is exciting because it means more natural light, so fewer headaches on the days I do my real job in there, AND more space!!

The kicker is our house came with a huge corner desk built-in the room I had previously been using, and several white shelves attached to the walls (the old owners loved their knickknacks).  So it wasn’t a quick change.  As of right now we have completed the process of removing everything from the old room and moving EVERYTHING from both rooms into the new one.  It’s crazy, and stressful because I can’t find anything!

However, I love my new desk hubby gave me for Christmas that I can finally use…and I’m still excited about the new rooms!  Want to see a bit of my mess (after a day of trying to organize)?  No laughing at my iphone photos…I’m afraid if I bring the nice camera in here, I’ll lose it in a pile of “stuff”!

See, it’s not that bad right?

Um, as long as I don’t turn around from the desk I don’t have to see this.
Or This…

I’m not sure why my ski boots were in the spare bedroom…and that big white bag on the bed?  Yep, that’s my wedding dress!  I really need to get that professionally cleaned and either sell it or package it up.  See that black shelf? Ikea… circa 1996…and basement bound once this is over!   I won’t even try to show you the wall in-front of the closet, because it’s piled high with boxes that spill into the closet so that I can’t even get into in the event I needed something out of it.  Sigh…..

Any great ideas out there on how to ignore the huge mess behind you so you can continue to work without it driving you crazy?

I don’t know about you, but it’s been a long crazy week in our household.  Thankfully I am finally feeling better (even if I still sound like an 80 year old smoker) from my run in with bronchitis but then my dad started having some chest & arm pain last weekend.  Thankfully after close to a week in various hospitals he has been cleared of any new heart related problems.  Mix that in with a busy work week and you have one tired little Smurfette who is extremely thankful for a weekend of down time!

Even Crafty Pup is ready for a little rest!

Thanks to the lovely ladies who decided to join me in my Craft it Forward endevors.  I’ll be sending each of you an email tomorrow asking for a bit of information (to help me figure out what to make you) and your addresses.  I’m so excited to be sending something your way in the upcoming weeks!  The lucky winners are:

• Lisa M.
• Becky B
• Rachel J.
• Kelly T.
• Clare

Hopefully you can take advantage of the April Stash Bust to get you started with a Craft it Forward of your own!  I look forward to hearing (reading) about how you decide to carry the Craft it Forward torch onto the next set of recipients!

I’m thinking I’ll get started on busting my stash this weekend, along with some yard work, hanging out with friends who are here from Texas, and most of all getting a bit of rest.  What about you?  What are your big plans for this beautiful weekend?

We had a busy but relaxing Saturday and then today I’ve been busy, busy working on…well work!  Which means I still have a few finishing touches to  a couple tutorials but thought I’d give you a little sneak peek of what’s coming down the pipe for later this week and in the weeks to come.

1. I’m excited to be hosting my first give-away of sorts! A few weeks back I was selected to participate in “Craft it Forward” over at the Nifty Newlywed.  So I’m excited to continue the craft-it-forward movement with 5 other fun crafters!  Look for more information mid-week and start thinking about what you could make & share with 5 people if you are chosen!
2. Cupcake Toppers! There are quite a few templates out there for cupcake toppers, but I’ll share my easy way to make last minute toppers with dollar store supplies & a craft tool or two (or even things you have at home).
   
3. Baby Shower Gifts: With 4 baby showers in 2 months, I’ve been hard at work on a few handmade gifts.  The first shower was last week so that means I can finally start revealing a few of the goodies.
   
4. Craft Room/Office ReLocation/ReModel 2010: We are in the packing portion of the process of switching out our guest bedroom and my office/craft room so that I get the bigger room with more light!  I’m super excited and the guest bedroom isn’t getting the bad end of this deal since the new guest bedroom is getting a makeover as well.  Out with the ugly dark blue industrial carpet and in with some plush and relaxing (and easier to clean).  So I’ll be asking for lots of suggestions along the way…for example what clean coastal/cottage bedding goes best with our antique furniture?  And how can I best organize all my crafting supplies and still maintain a clean look?
5. And finally…wedding projects! I’m determined to write up tutorials on several of our DIY wedding projects …and also determined to do that before our 1st Anniversary!  So be on the lookout for quarter-page bi-fold programs,  activity book programs & crayons for the kiddos, rehearsal dinner menus, jam escort cards, and photo thank you cards.  That’s quite a few tutorials to write up…but I think I can, I think I can

So…the goal is that this little blog doesn’t get ignored quite as much and somewhere along the way I might even migrate my personal journal blog over to this one as well.  That might mean a few more “about our smurfy life” posts…

What about you…what did you do this weekend?  And do you have a growing “to-do” list you want to finish before summer?

I hope you had a wonderful 2009 and are gearing up for an even better 2010!  I know we are super excited to see what 2010 brings to our household (and no, that in no way implies a baby smurf)

Also I just realized that my little crafty home on the internet is nearing its 10,000th visitor which may seem small to some of you super bloggers out there, but to part-time me it’s a big surprise.  So, I wanted to take a quick moment to THANK YOU for dropping by!!  You’ve made this little part-time crafty gal wear a full-time smile today

In other exciting news we received our photo disk yesterday from our wedding…which means I finally have finished product photos for many of our DIY wedding projects!  I’ll be working on putting those posts together in the upcoming few weeks, and finishing up several other projects that are awaiting finishing touches and photos.

So, Thank You for visiting my little internet home and Happy 2010!!

I LOVE colorful clothing, which makes me wonder if I’m the last person to find out about the UK company Boden who now ships to the good ole USA?  I mean just look at a couple of the things I’m currently dreaming of….

(All Photos from Boden USA)

(photo credit: Climie+Co)

Yesterday I clicked unsubscribe.

To several wedding blogs I’d been following…and it felt kinda nice.  It’s been 4 months since the wedding and while I promise I’ll finish up the posts on all of our wedding DIY projects, I have to admit it feels nice to start stepping away from the mass amounts of wedding planning p0rn out there.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved our wedding.  Looking back there really isn’t anything big I’d change (other than a few guest list additions since we had the space), but sometimes when looking through all this wedding ideas/photos I “wish” we’d included this or that and it makes me sad.  Which is dumb if you reread the sentence above….I loved our wedding.  It was perfectly “us”.  It was small, simple, clean lines, natural beauty and we felt loved all day.  So really…it was perfect and how do you improve on that?

So…I’m slowly clearing out the majority of the bridal blogs in my reader and plan to replace them with non-baby related newlywed blogs.  And crafty blogs of course.  I think I’ll even try to redo the look of this blog a bit, I think it’s time for Brainy & Smurfette to change out of their wedding finery and find some hiking clothes! 

So, talk to me….what newlywed & crafty blogs can I not live without?

So this is the post where  I shamelessly ask for your votes!  I just realized I am one of the finalists for the I Love SW photo content on Southern Wedding’s blog….and right now I have no votes   To show me some internet lovin, click on the link below and leave a comment with which photo you like best!

http://www.swsmag.net/blog/2009/9/29/photo-contest-finalists-i-love-sw.html

PS. Stick around a few weeks and I’ll show you what those cute little guys were left over from