some barnes and noble gift cards were burning a hole in my pocket....  i ordered these books that i've been wanting to read... now for a rainy day off (that's not likely to happen anytime soon in the desert...)!

anybody read any of them?

last weekend my friend amber and i dragged each other garage saling bright and early.

this was my big find:

i don't know why, but i love it so much- it's sitting on top of my kitchen cabinets.  paul thinks it's ridiculous and that amber should have stopped me from spending a grand two dollars on it....  kinda makes me love it even more...

after i get my garden planted, i might find him a new home there, unless he's become too much a part of my kitchen....

i took advantage of the three day weekend to paint the living room.  i have been wanting to for awhile, but painting has a way of sucking up your weekends, so i've been putting it off!  my friend amber came over to help me paint and her husband came to play video games with paul while i tried to paint around the tv...

snack break...

finished!

i stumbled on this gorgeous tutorial and am going to be hitting up a fabric store asap to make one of these.  i am in love with it and think i want to do the same color as the picture.  here's the tutorial for this pinwheel skirt.  i'll post my finished product when i get it done!

i have a few friends with babies on the way, so i thought i would try my hand at making some cards... until today i've never made a card without the supervision of my friend sarah and her mad paper skills.  unfortunately sarah has moved cross country so i'm on my own.  sarah?  pass your judgment.

there's a great giveaway over at a sunday morning sugar this week-  check it out!  
you can win these two things, a gift card to jacques and jill, and a secret gift!

back to school syndrome has killed my blogging ability!  i haven't made anything in weeks and i'm dying to make something and blog about it!  my crafting list is calling, but i have a whole other list related to teaching and my masters class that i have to address first...  so sad.  in need of a crafting fix, i ordered these beautiful prints from etsy today.  i can't wait to get them and hang them in our bedroom!

i saw these wine bottle torches on design sponge, and i am dying to make some of these to put on the posts on our back patio- i love blue glass and i think it would make my outdoor oasis perfect!  if you drink wine in a blue bottle soon, save the bottle for me!

last weekend we had an abnormally cool day for phoenix, 88 degrees!  so we took advantage by laying outside on our new grass with our dog.... 

ah, peace and relaxation...

now i just wish i had a quilt like this to lay on- a future project! (and another time that i've lost the original creator's link!  so sorry!)

 a long time ago, i posted that i wanted to try making something like this (sorry, i lost the link for who made it!):

i started my own way back in october and it sat on my to do pile for ages.... a couple weeks ago i sat down with an exacto knife and finished it up.  after two weeks, by fingers are still sore from all the pressing on the exacto knife so hard!  i think i did permanent damage...  but i love the final product, just can't decide where to put it...