Obsessed

I've always had an affinity for arts and crafts stores.  They just have an air of possibility. So many little things - beads, stickers, paper, gimp, foamies & about a thousand more - to create wonderful and beautiful gifts for everyone in your life.  But lately, my affinity has turned into a bit of an obsession.  I have a weekly routine that usually includes Target at least once a week.  It seems that a craft store (either Michaels - which is right by work so it's a good bet on this one, AC Moore, Hobby Lobby or Joann's - I'm not picky) will now be visited at least once, more often than not more than once.  In the case of this week, 2 stores within 24 hours.  This picture represents my haul from both trips.  How can anyone find things to purchase in the same darn type of store within 24 hours of each other you ask?  It's those coupons the smarty marketing people insist on sending you.  They'll be the death of me.  You can't just throw them away.  They represent some fabulous tool, or stamp or sticker that you know you just need to make some fancy schmancy card you've seen on Pinterest.  It's a habit; one of course I'm freely feeding.  

You might say it's an issue, but I've admitted it, and now I can go about my craft-loving, stamp-obsessed, tool-fiend life drowning under the weight of my stash.  How does the old saying go?  She who dies with the most stuff, wins : ) 

Friday Five

1. Hank the new mascot for the Milwaukee Brewers:  I heard nothing about this on any other news outlet, so I can't guarantee the story is completely true.  But if they have adopted him, I might have to start rooting for them as opposed to the Orioles.  Hank is just about the cutest and his little jersey makes him even cuter.

2. Math Teacher/Baby Cuddler: I've been seeing this headline around the web this week but never took the time to read it until day.  What a great man!  For 20 years, he's quietly comforted probably thousands of babies and given dozens of gallons of blood to those who need it without a shred of publicity or flaunting.  I'm hopeful, now that the story is out there, he'll get the recognition he so rightly deserves.  I'm thinking Ellen Degeneres should have something to say about that : )

3. Hobby Lobby: I've called Michael's and AC Moore both "crafter's meccas" before, I believe, but of course, that was before I discovered Hobby Lobby.  Seriously, where has this store been my whole life?  It's by far the biggest arts and crafts store I've ever seen and contains just about every possible craft item you could possibly want.  My real reason for loving it though, may sound ridiculous.  Everything is completely and beautifully organized. All the aisles are kept spotless and everything can be easily reached and found. When I entered the Scrapbooking section for the first time, (a section in Michaels that usually looks like a bomb has gone off), I swear I heard angels sing...

4. The Selby: I discovered this site today while looking at another Friday Five post.  For someone as obsessed as I am lately with scrapbook room organization, this sort of seems like it could be an addiction.  It's creative people in their creative places.  I'm anticipating lots of ideas for Kristen's Studio 2.0...

5. This, this right here is gorgeous, and genius and an utterly brilliant idea!  I found it on Pinterest but she's selling it on her Etsy Shop.  If you have little ones, it would be the perfect addition to their bedrooms.  It's already been added to the To Do list in my book, though I'm guessing it won't turn out nearly as adorable as hers did!

List-less

Until I discovered the finer points of BuzzFeed, I must admit I thought it was a ridiculous entertainment site used only to publish inane lists on completely random topics.  Of course, once I started reading the inane lists, I quite liked them and kind of found them hilarious, which was disappointing to me as well.  So maybe that's where the real problem began.  I've realized, I've been relying quite a bit lately on lists to write these blog posts.  Why is that?

Why are blog posts or stories easier to write in list format?  It may be this need of mine to categorize something instead of stringing together a workable narrative.  It might also be, that it's just easier and less taxing to compose a list instead of writing a complete story from A-Z.  Just ask BuzzFeed, their reporters seem to have that down to a science.  Of course, it might also be that my life's not that interesting right now and due to a lack of something fun to write about, it's a bit simpler to give you the rundown on some other random topic of conversation that's floating through my mind.  Hoping that Life in general will pick up soon with the return of that big bright yellow thing in the sky this spring that's been missing all winter, mind you.

In any event, I'm going to try not to do that so much.  I read so many great authors and writers each day, and would very much like to be at least a little like them.  That requires practice and focus and something interesting to happen, of course.  Aside from Friday Five, I'm going to try very hard to focus the posts a bit and be the writer I wish to be (with a little BuzzFeed-iness thrown in for good measure here and there, because honestly, who doesn't care about the top 15 hottest Catholic men in Holloywood?  I didn't until I learned number 3 was George Clooney.  How did I not know he was Catholic?  That makes him officially perfect but I digress... : )

Currently

I read an article today about a Project Lifer who does one of these each month (usually on the same day each month, but I'm most definitely not that organized) to show at a glance what she fell in love with or enjoyed each year.  Seeing as there's only 2 more days in February and I haven't done one yet this month, I'll give it a shot.

Enjoying: Crafting.  I've so many ideas lately that I just can't emboss or stamp fast enough. By this time next month, my stock will be well and truly full.

Thinking: About Etsy.  My goal was, before my birthday, to have a shop open.  The more I think about it, the more excited I get but I also start to ponder all the crazy things that go along with it - at least go along with it in my head anyway.  Shouldn't all the things I make, go together in some sort of theme?  I mean quilters, usually just sell quilts.  But I like to do lots of different things so should I stop being a scattered-scrapper and only focus on one thing?

Wearing: Warm and Cozy fleece pjs

Drinking: English Breakfast Tea by Cuppa Tea.  Yum!

Weather: Flipping Freezing!!! It was supposed to snow quite a bit yesterday so I had my heart set on a snow day today, but the lots of snow that was forecasted only turned into lots of wind and dropped the temperature dramatically. Brrr!

Wondering: If the next snow storm that's predicted for Sunday into Monday will get me a snow day so I can stay home and craft.

Wanting: A rainbow of Stayz On Stamp-Pads.  I'm getting tired of my boring black one.

Listening: An interview with Simon Pegg.  He's talking about the terribly hilarious prank he pulled on the cast of Star Trek.  Hearing what all sides thought of the prank never gets old!

Needing: To stop sneezing.  Before I got home, I didn't have a cold but ever since I stepped in the door, I've been sneezing or nearly sneezing which is even worse.  Annoying!

In the Kitchen: Breakfast Pie

There are a few recipes that I love to make and tend to make quite often.  This breakfast pie is my specialty and I make it probably a great deal more than I should.  It's good for breakfast, but I usually have it for dinner with lots of salsa.  The salsa is a special recipe so I can't share that, but I will share the pie - it's so simple and is the perfect dinner for a busy week night!

Before:

 After

PS: I've seemed to figure out the blogging, the cooking and the crafting but not so much the photography just yet.  It may not look appetizing but I guarantee it's delicious!

Kristen's Breakfast Pie
Makes 2 Pies

Roll of Breakfast Sausage
One Green Pepper
One Onion
8-10 eggs 
Pillsbury Pie Crusts 
Grated Cheddar Jack Cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste
And any other yummy ingredient you'd like

Preheat oven to 375 and lay out pie crusts in 2 pie pans,  
Saute onions and peppers until soft.  Remove then fry up the sausage.  When sausage is fully cooked, add the cooked onions and peppers and mix well.  While they're warming on the stove, crack and scramble the eggs and add cheese as you like.  Add the sausage mixture to the egg mixture then dump the whole mix into the opened pie crusts.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.  In the last 5 minutes, sprinkle some cheese on top if you'd like. 

Enjoy with your favorite salsa or accompaniment!

Monday, Monday

Did you ever get the feeling that the universe is playing a cruel joke on you?  That it's really not Monday at all, you've just dreamed it and it's actually Friday afternoon around about quitting time?  It's been that sort of dragging my rear, just can't get up the energy for the week Monday. But there's still time for craftiness - if brightly colored paper and glitter can't wake me up out of my post-weekend funk, I'm not sure what will.

 For months, I've been wondering where all the crafters on Pinterest found a punch that looked like a speech bubble and was able to punch in the middle of a card.  Then, today, on what's quickly becoming my daily trip to Michael's, I found these cute little PRE-punched cards.  Love it when things are easy!

Scrappy Sunday

A Christening and some scrapping.  All around a pretty good Sunday.  If I could do this every day I'd be a much cheerier person : )