Wordless Wednesday: Crafting Blankets

It is not a surprise that I have been crafting a lot lately. But really it helps for stress relief, and I get home late most days so it is way too late to go to the gym.

During the Holidays, I was ambitious and made three fleece no-sew tie blankets.  I made two for a friend’s sons and one for my friend Kristin. I’ve been shopping for the perfect fleece cupcake pattern for months. When I saw this blue cupcake fabric, I had to buy it.

Cupcake Fleece No Sew Tie Blanket

My mom is difficult to buy for, and I know she likes my son’s fleece blanket, so I decided to make her one also. Her birthday was on Monday and this was her birthday present. Angry Kid picked out the fabric. If you’ve met my mom, you would understand the fabric.

Late Night Crafting. I just finished a birthday present for my mom. She covets my son's fleece tie blanket. I made her one tonight. It was supposed to be a Christmas gift. No more crafts for a few days.

Welcome to “Angry Julie Monday’s Wordless Wednesday Linky”!

If this your first time here, HELLO! I do a link-up every Wednesday! Post a picture(s) and link back to it here. Wordless Wednesday is a great day to post an awesome picture that “speaks” for itself, no words needed.

Be sure to check out Wordless Wednesday Link-Ups at these other sites also:

Project Alicia, Better in Bulk, By Word of Mouth Musings, Crazy About My Baybah, Dear Crissy, Five Minutes For Mom, Live and Love…Out Loud, Naptime Momtog, Parenting By Dummies, Seven Clown Circus, Supermom, The Divine Miss Mommy

Also, Lindsey from The Pleated Poppy does “What I Wore Wednesday” every week with a great big link-up.

And, I can’t forget Krystina from Lollipops whom does “What I Love Wednesday” every week with a great big link-up.


Link Up Your Wordless Wednesday Post:





















































(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

January 10 on 10

Seeing Erin’s posts on Instagram reminded me that today was January 10, and time to do 10 on 10. It is a little meme where you take photos throughout your day, usually every hour to show your daily life.

So this is a work day for me, and my work days can be boring and/or busy, it all depends.

My day starts with getting ready and taking my son to school, average suburban things, ya know.

I call this "The OC Mom Uniform". Boyfriend jeans and @TomsShoes. Of course, I'm wearing a cardigan too. 1/10 on #10on10

#1

Lucky boyfriend jeans and Toms Shoes. I actually think that my Lucky jeans are straight leg ones, but with my height, I have to roll them, making them boyfriend jeans. This is the OC Mom uniform, I swear.

Project Grow-Out Pixie Cut. 2 of 10. I told @wmgg last night that I am starting to look like a Lhasa Apso. I almost put my bangs in a ponytail. @teraraestephens don't be judging my work hair... #10on10

#2

Project Grow-Out Pixie Cut. 2 of 10. I told Megan last night that I am starting to look like a Lhasa Apso. I almost put my bangs in a ponytail.

Making friends at work. 3 of 10. #10on10

#3

Making friends at work. I think he was begging for something. “Hello squirrel, I have no nuts for you. Please go visit my mom who buys unsalted nuts for the neighborhood squirrels.”

I was starving so no pic of my food. But I had @ChipotleTweets for lunch today. 4 of 10. #10on10

#4

Chipotle for lunch. I was so hungry that I scarfed it down. I forgot to take a picture of the deliciousness. So here’s my drink.

Purple latex free. How I get the job done at work. 5 of 10. #10on10

#5

Latex-free gloves. I somehow have an allergy to latex gloves now. Total nightmare. I hate to switch last year. But I sorta love the purple.

Crossing things off my list in my @ErinCondren Life Planner. 6 of 10. #10on10

#6

Love my Erin Condren Life Planner. I’m crossing off bills paid, etc. from last week.

Back in my Chevy. 51 miles worth of gas left. Ugh, must get gas sometime tomorrow. 7 on 10. #10on10

#7
Back in my Chevy. 51 miles worth of gas left. Ugh, must get gas sometime tomorrow.

Came home to pizza for dinner, sitting on the stove. @momfluential will understand why I'm pissed. 8 of 10. #10on10

#8
Came home to pizza for dinner, sitting on the stove. Ciaran will understand why I’m pissed. Husband went to Dr. today to see about possible gluten allergy.

Journal writing time for the kid. The absolute worst part of weekly homework. 9 of 10. #10on10

#9
Journal writing time for the kid. The absolute worst part of weekly homework.

End of day. Flannel jammies on. Different glasses. Bad hair. 10 of 10. #10on10

#10
Ending the day with a self-portrait. Flannel pjs with shoes on them. Hair starting to look a little more like a Lhasa Apso now that the clip is in.

Hello Monday

Is the weekend over already?

I’m not ready for it to be done.

My son found @Pinterest and the Star Wars board that I created. He's been on here for an hour.
Hello Pinterest!

I showed my son Pinterest to look at Valentine’s Day card ideas. He found my Star Wars board and was hooked.

Watching Friday Night Lights and Crafting Some Valentine's Day Bunting/Pennants. This is life in suburbia.
Hello Friday Night Lights and crafting on Friday Night.

I’m on Season 2 now and I’m hooked.

Why yes, I am decorating for the next big Hallmark Holiday. Valentine's Day bunting is up. #crafty
Hello Valentine’s Day decor.

I swear I’m not Holiday obsessed.

Crafting is good for stress relief.

Hello Saturday morning Winter Soccer.

Angry Kid’s team won their game.

Love the fantastic pizza from @MobilePizzaUnit at @cupcakescutlery son's birthday party!
Hello Mobile Pizza Unit aka Pizzetta Company 77 Mobile Pizza Unit.

Angry Kid and I attended a birthday party for Sharon’s  son and the Mobile Pizza Unit was there.

Awesome pizza and a firetruck = fun for all.

Finally took down our Holiday Cards today. Loved them all. I punch a hole in them and store them on a binder ring in my Christmas boxes.
Hello to the end of the Holidays.

All of the cards are saved and put away to reflect on in December of 2012.

My name is Julie and I am now officially a fabric hoarder. I may have bought SEVERAL yards of this fabric. I win as #1 mom tonight! #starwars #sewing #crafts
Hello to Star Wars fabric.

This was like finding a unicorn on a horse ranch. It was the impossible.

Star Wars fabric is impossible to find. IMPOSSIBLE.

I stumbled upon it at Joann’s on Saturday night. I immediately texted Julie and Erin.

Hello to a brand new week.

Hello to my mom’s birthday, which she mentioned at least 10 times on the phone today.

Hello Monday!

I’m linking up with Lisa Leonard and her Hello Monday Series.

Wordless Wednesday: Squawking Plants

I saw this grouping of Bird of Paradise plants and had to take a picture. Ok, I might have taken about ten trying to get the right shot. I love how all of the blooms look they are birds squawking at each other.

Birds of ParadisePhoto Information: Photo taken with iPhone4, Camera+ App with Clarity and Vibrant settings, Snapseed to straighten the photo.

********************

Welcome to “Angry Julie Monday’s Wordless Wednesday Linky”!

If this your first time here, HELLO! I do a link-up every Wednesday! Post a picture(s) and link back to it here. Wordless Wednesday is a great day to post an awesome picture that “speaks” for itself, no words needed.

Be sure to check out Wordless Wednesday Link-Ups at these other sites also:

Project AliciaBetter in BulkBy Word of Mouth MusingsCrazy About My Baybah, Dear CrissyFive Minutes For MomLive and Love…Out Loud,  Naptime Momtog, Parenting By DummiesSeven Clown CircusSupermomThe Divine Miss Mommy

Also, Lindsey from The Pleated Poppy does “What I Wore Wednesday” every week with a great big link-up.

And, I can’t forget Krystina from Lollipops whom does “What I Love Wednesday” every week with a great big link-up.


Link Up Your Wordless Wednesday Post:





















































(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

How To Organize Project 365 and Stay Sane

It is the first week of January and I’m already seeing all of the Year Long blogging projects being spoken about. Everyone seems to have some kind of blogging resolution and they want to start new and fresh. I can totally relate, but my motto is “chillax” this year.

Last year, I started a year long photo project which also turned into somewhat of a blog project too. I did Project 365 for the first time ever in 2011. You may have seen this phrase “Project 365″ all over the Internet this week, but what does it really mean? Project 365 is committing to taking one photo a day for a year. I’ve seen several different ways to do Project 365: with a DSLR, with a mobile phone, self-portraits, picture of your child, or even a picture of a certain object. I chose to do Project 365 using my iPhone along with the app, Instagram.

You know how to they “it takes six weeks to form a habit”? Well, that is when I hit the wall, mid-February. I was over taking pictures. I am constantly taking pictures but somehow doing Project 365 made it feel somewhat of a job. My husband was shocked that actually made it to February, and for some reason, that gave me the extra push. I can be somewhat of a flake on things, and often don’t finish some of the projects that I start. I became determined to finish Project 365.

10 Tips on How To Organize Project 365

Here are 10 Tips Showing What I Learned Doing Project 365 and How To Stay Organized:

1. Take photo with iPhone. I had no particular thing that I was taking pictures of. I took pictures of my food, my son, myself, the weather, flowers, and about anything else that I could find, that looked interesting.

2. Start early in the day with your photos. When you take multiple photos throughout the day, it is much easier to select that “perfect” photo for the day. Also, you won’t have panic at 11pm when you forgot to take a photo, like I did on some of the days.

3. Upload to Instagram for sharing. Obviously Project 365 is something that I set out to do and conquer. But I think that everyone loves a good photo, and most of the time, mine are pretty decent.  Instagram is my FAVORITE app on my iPhone. Yes, Instagram beat out Twitter this past year as my favorite. There are some fantastic photographers that post on Instagram. Find me as @AngryJulie over there.

4. When Sharing on Instagram, have photos sent to my Flickr account. I use Flickr for all of my photo storage and blog photos. It is great site to keep everything organized and tagged properly. I use the Flickr Pro version which is $24.95 a year. Flickr has a free version which you can upload 2 videos and 300MB worth of photos each calendar month. I love the Flickr Pro version for unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, and archiving of high-resolution original images.

5. Create a set on Flickr to store all of my Project 365 Photos. What is the point of having all of these photos if I can’t find them to look at them? If I didn’t set-up this set on Flickr, all of my cherished Project 365 photos would be lost on my iPhone and my Instagram account. At the end of each day, I made sure that I added my “Project 365 Photo for the Day” into my Flickr set titled “Project 365 2011″ obviously.

6. Label each Project 365 Photo of the Day with the Proper Day Number. Some days I took 5 photos and some days, I took 1. I had days where I found  myself at the end of the day without taking a photo, because I was too busy. I went throughout my house and found something funny, or maybe even one of my son’s toys. But I always went back and numbered my photos stating this, “Project 365 1/365″ for each of the 365 days. I kept the title that was already with the photo from my Instagram photo, which was somewhat of a description.

7. Make sure that the numbers on my Project 365 were actually the correct date number. It is easy to do the first month, January. There are 31 days in January. After January, it gets more difficult with Day 32, etc. I thought that I was doing a good job with my numbering and that I was on track at the end of the project. Well, when I was working on my preliminary Week 52 post, I freaked. I realized that the numbering of my days in the Project was off by three days. I took a day and went through ALL of my photos and found the error, which was on FEBRUARY 26th. My friend, Megan, sent me this online calendar to make sure that all of the dates and numbers matched up when I went to fix all of my photos, and all of my recap posts. That particular project took three days.

8. Make sure that the photos are in numerical order within the Flickr set. There are actually people who like to check out the photos that you take for Project 365, and there are also Flickr Groups that you can join to add your photos too. I like to make sure that the photos are all in order. You can do a “batch” organizing, and re-arrange them “oldest first” which will start the group with Day 1.

9. Do a weekly recap post. Every week on either Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, I did a recap week of all my Project 365 photos for the week prior. Since January 1, 2011 was on a Saturday, my weeks went from Saturday to Friday, 7 days. I labeled my posts, “Project 365: Week 1″ and so forth. I also have a button on the sidebar of my blog with the “Project 365″ category for easy access.

10. Be dilligent about organizing your photos daily. If you use some of the tools and steps that I’ve outlined above, it will much easier to accomplish this project. If you are a big photo taker like me, it can be difficult to go back a few days and properly organize, tag, and label your photos.

********************

It was a fun project to do! I am really happy that I finished it. But seriously, I am a bit exhausted. I may have shaken my fist in the air, and shouted, “YESSSS I’m done, I’m really done” last Saturday night. I posted my last week here, Week 52. I giggle to myself a little when I see everyone posting their Project 365 pictures on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. But seriously, so glad I did it. Maybe in 2013, I will try it again.

While I was working on this post, I was chatting with Janice Croze from 5 Minutes For Mom on Skype. Janice is VERY similar to me, as we are both a little over-the-top with our perfectionism.  She kept asking me questions about Project 365, and what it was. I tried to explain to her what it entailed by cutting and pasting some of the verbage from this post while I was typing it. But she wanted me to quote her on this little statement that she made.

“SO, what happens if you miss a day? Do you have to kill yourself??? Cause I am a perfectionist – I don’t think I can handle the pressure OR the empty space.”-Janice Croze, 5 Minutes For Mom

Janice has a good point. What if you miss a day and forget to take a photo? Will you be fired from Project 365? Do you have to stop doing it? Can you cheat? Obviously, you are just cheating yourself, because this is your own self-guided photo project. But I have to admit, there were a few days that I flubbed. I had some really long busy work days where either I had nothing interesting to take a photo of, or my iPhone was dead and needed charging. I admit to taking an extra photo from the day prior or the next day to fulfill 2-3 days within the project. I know what days those were, because my photo upload date to Flickr is different than the actual Project 365 date. Those days were totally haunt my OCD/perfectionism. So to answer Janice’s question, “will I kill myself? No, but I know, I will always know…but I’m ok with that, because YEEHAW I’m done!

I hope that my tips will help you on your journey of 365 days and 52 weeks of Project 365 or in 2012, Project 366!

Here are some other great tips for a successful Project 365:

Hello New Year

Hello End of 2011.

Hello New Year and 2012!

Hello to Angry Kid and I toasting with wine glasses and sparkling apple cider at midnight.

Cheers to you! May 2012 be the year where all your dreams come true! Angry Kid says that this was his most favorite wine that we toasted! Ya, sparkling cider dude, you have 15 years till you can drink. #newyear

Hello to finishing Project 365 in 2011.

Hello to not needing to take photos anymore, but wanting to take photos.

Hello to crazy new work schedule.

Hello to Angry Kid’s Holiday Vacation over on Tuesday.

2012 Year of the Flamingo
Hello to Year of the Flamingo. A great and fun joke between Erin, Kim, and I. It has spawned tons of group messages via the iPhone along with photographs.

Hello to No Silly Resolutions.

Hello to Changes and Promises.

Hello to Winter Soccer for my son, which gives him something to occupy his time.

Hello to a chaos, which I think I’m prepared for.

Wish me luck!

I’m linking up with Lisa Leonard and her Hello Monday Series.

Mint Cleaner, A Review

Over the past month, I had the chance to review the Mint Cleaner. The Mint Cleaner  is designed exclusively for hard surface floors. It works on most hard flooring including wood, tile, vinyl and laminate. Our house has hardwood floors throughout the main traffic areas, and is constantly dusty and littered with debris.  I love having hardwoods over carpeting, but those tiny little dust bunnies on the floors make me a little insane.

10 on 10 #2 @mintcleaner that uses a navigation system to clean our floors. It is awesome. Review coming soon!

My husband was apprehensive to try the Mint Cleaner as we have tried other automatic floor cleaners in our house. He was pleasantly surprised. The Mint Cleaner used a NorthStar Navigation System which works like an indoor GPS. The NorthStar Cube projects a signal that Mint uses to determine its location. Then as Mint starts cleaning, it builds a map of the area as it goes, marking walls, obstacles and drop offs as it encounters them. And really our most favorite part is that the Mint Cleaner works with cleaning cloths like the Swiffer and Pledge dry and wet cloths. You don’t need to purchase any expensive specialized hard-to-order cleaning chemicals to use the Mint.

Once the Mint Cleaner is charged, the cleaning cloth added on, and the NorthStar Cube is placed…you just start the Mint Cleaner. The first time that we used the cleaner, the cleaning cloth was filthy. I swear we actually dust and vacuum our house almost daily. After using the Mint Cleaner for a few days, the cloth got cleaner and cleaner, obviously because the Mint Cleaner was doing its job.

Of course, I had to take some video of the Mint Cleaner in action with my iPhone. This is an amateur video by me.

Seriously, we have been using the Mint Cleaner for the past month and love it. My son just sits on the couch and stares at it. We run the cleaner during the night when everyone is settled down. I always forget that it is running except when I hear it gently nudging around the baseboards in our hallway.

The Mint Cleaner 4200 which I reviewed, retails for $199.99 and can be found at Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond, Target, Amazon, Walmart, and several other stores found here.

Disclosure: I was provided with a Mint Cleaner 4200 for review purposes. I was not compensated in any way. All reviews and opinions are mine.

Project 365: Week 52 THE END

Well, I survived!!! 365 days and 52 weeks of iPhone Photographs! Let me tell ya, it wasn’t easy. Some days I was super busy, and you got to see photos of my food and randomness. Ok, I admit, you got to see a lot of my food. I’m exhausted from this project, and although it was fun, I’m taking a break next year. Although I applaud anyone who does it, and even more applause for people who use their DSLR!

Last Wednesday, I noticed my numbering was off on my photos. I spent the past five days going through all of my photos to find the error. It turns out I made an error on February 26th. So I had to re-number almost all of my photographs for this project. I’m a little obsessive compulsive so I had to fix it. It was not fun re-doing all of my blog posts and editing my Flickr photos, but I did it.

52 Weeks of Project 365 for 2011

My Project 365 Flickr Set

And for the last week, #52, here you go!

Project 365 358/365Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar: Day 24. Yoda. Yoda was one of the most renowned and powerful Jedi Masters in galactic history. He was known for his legendary wisdom, mastery of the Force and skills in lightsaber combat. He is dressed in
Project 365 358/365 Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar: Day 24. Yoda. Yoda was one of the most renowned and powerful Jedi Masters in galactic history. He was known for his legendary wisdom, mastery of the Force and skills in lightsaber combat.

Project 365 359/365: Merry Chrismas to me! I'm eating lasagna by myself. Kid sick, husband sick, my mom yanked out one of her crowns with a piece of candy. All we need is a squirrel to come flying out of the tree. #Griswolds
Project 365 359/365: Merry Chrismas to me! I’m eating lasagna by myself. Kid sick, husband sick, my mom yanked out one of her crowns with a piece of candy. All we need is a squirrel to come flying out of the tree. #Griswolds

Project 365 360/365: A new desk from IKEA to use as a sewing table for the new sewer aka me.
Project 365 360/365: A new desk from IKEA to use as a sewing table for the new sewer aka me.

Project 365 361/365: Gatorade in a Coca Cola Glass. This pretty much describes my day. The flu hit our house on Christmas Day. I was the last one to get it. Sigh
Project 365 361/365: Gatorade in a Coca Cola Glass. This pretty much describes my day. The flu hit our house on Christmas Day. I was the last one to get it. Sigh

Project 365 362/365: My son feeds and entertains himself while I'm recovering from the flu. Good to know that he will be prepared for college.
Project 365 362/365: My son feeds and entertains himself while I’m recovering from the flu. Good to know that he will be prepared for college.

Project 365 363/365: My son's Tyranid Army for #Warhammer40K Fantasy. These little plastic things are ugly.
Project 365 363/365: My son’s Tyranid Army for #Warhammer40K Fantasy. These little plastic things are ugly.

Project 365 364/365: Our family got a mini donut maker for Christmas! Made our first batch today!
Project 365 364/365: Our family got a mini donut maker for Christmas! Made our first batch today!

Happy New Year Instagram! This is my #777th @instagram! It is also Photo and Day #365 of #Project365! Yippee!
Happy New Year Instagram! This is my #777th @instagram! It is also Photo and Day #365 of #Project365! Yippee!

Grab My Button

Angry Julie Monday

Recommended

Advertise here






FitFluential Is Fitness Found