Happy Birthday Kinley!!

 Does anyone else's children pick very specific birthday party themes?  I surely hope it's not just mine.  This year Kinley was obsessed with Zombies and Zombies 2 from Disney.  Being Disney, I thought for sure there would be lots of party products available.  I thought wrong.

I should clarify that when I say party, it was simply a sleepover with Kinley and one friend.  However, as my husband can attest to, I do not know how to do simple birthdays.  It is the same whether it is one kid or 20.  I have a problem.

Off to Pinterest and Etsy I went.  I was very surprised to find these areas lacking for ideas as well.  So this is what we came up with.

We made pom poms from tissue paper and craft sticks.  I alternated pink and green sheets (the colors from the movie) and folded them in half.  I used about 6 sheets for each.  Once folded in half, I cut them in strips, leaving about an inch and a half uncut to wrap around the stick.  I hot glued as I rolled the tissue paper around the craft stick.  You could also use colorful duct tape.  These held up surprisingly well to all the shaking the girls did with them.

Kinley had seen some garland on Pinterest that she really liked but it was about $10 for 3 feet.  No, no, no.  We bought pink and green cardstock and I cut 3 inch circles with my Cricut.  We then got glued each one to string we bought from the dollar tree.  We did this process all with the 10 foot string and then cut to our desired lengths when we decided where to hang it.

I also used my Cricut to cut letters to make the Happy Birthday banner as well as the Zoms Vs Poms.  These were simple items that helped tie in her theme.

Of course we just used simple streamers and balloons because I am obsessed with streamers.

We had Zombie popcorn.  It was plain unbuttered popcorn with green and pink candy melts poured over it.  This is always a hit in our house and with so many colors of melts available, you can make it to match pretty much any theme.

As part of our party favors, we attempted for the first time, hydro dipped cups.  It was a lot of fun.  these were $1 bottles from Walmart.

Here is the finished party favor bag.

Was the party as themed as I had imagined?  Absolutely not. The girls loved it and had a great time with the activities we had planned so I would say that it was a success.  Now on to plan next years theme!

Simply Not Enough Time

Ok seriously...how are y'all doing this??  Does anyone feel like we are wearing so many hats that there simply isn't enough time in the day?

I am still working from home and still have no idea when that will change.  However, I am now also my daughter's teacher.  Our school districts virtual schedule expectations were just too much for me to do while working so we decided to pull her and are now homeschooling.  It allows us much more flexibility in scheduling.

With that being said, it also feels like I am being burnt at every end.  I had always thought homeschooling would be a great option if I was a stay at home mom.  I would daydream of the field trips we could take and the projects we could make.  Well, reality is not the same folks.  I have a 40+ hours per week job.  How do you fit field trips into that?  

Being home all day every day, you would think my home would be spotless, right?  Wrong again my friends.  When is there time to clean?  Heck, I am lucky if I get to eat.  Shower?? What's that??  That is a bit of an exaggeration but not by much.

It's very strange to see how much life has changed in the last 6 months.  And to ponder the future is also crazy.  Will most office jobs ever go back to the office?  Or after 6 months running this way, have they witnessed that it is sufficient enough to keep it this way?  Nobody really has the answers to that.  We just take it one day at a time.  One mess at a time.  One meal at a time.  One homework assignment at a time.  Keep on keeping on mamas.  We are all in this together.  Check in on your friends and family.  Send them a coffee, or heck, a bottle of wine.  Until I find time to write again my friends....

Finally Getting There

So, anyone who knows me, knows that I have REALLY been struggling through this whole pandemic.  I have been depressed way beyond any level I have ever been.  I have gotten put on depression medications and while it has eased it some, I just feel empty.  I have laid in my many, many nights wondering how everyone else seems to be coping so much better than I have.  I have been home for 5 months now.  5 whole months.  I have never spent this much time at home.  And yet, I haven't crafted, haven't danced, haven't done any of the things I usually enjoy.  I have had both daughters home with me, while my husband has been going to work outside of the house during this whole thing.

Yesterday, I had to move my older daughter back to college.  It was kind of an eye-opening experience.  let me explain.  When Kayla moved back to college last fall, we honestly didn't expect her to ever live under our roof again.  She was planning to be an RA over this spring and summer and stay on campus rather than come home.  So, in March, when she was forced to move back home because of the virus, we were all surprised.  We have had 5 months of seeing her on a daily basis that we never would have had.  I have had 5 months of seeing both of my girls, getting 2 good morning hugs every day.  This drop off was different.  Both Kayla and I said it felt very surreal.  Maybe that's because we aren't sure how long they will last on campus.  However, nobody cried this drop off which is really rare.  When Kinley and I came back to the house, the quietness started to sit in.  I wouldn't have Kayla walking out of her room asking, "how is work going mama bear?".  I wouldn't have anyone to chat with.  I wouldn't have anyone to distract Kinley while I am on a work call.  That's when it all started to set in.  I will never have as much time with my girls as I have had for the last 5 months.  I am very sad that I spent it being so sad and not appreciating every moment I had.  Now, I know depression doesn't work that way and I couldn't change how I felt.

It got me thinking about the reasons why I was so upset.  Everyone who knows my family, knows that we are go, go, go types of people.  We are always out doing something.  This virus brought all of that to an abrupt halt.  I am very much a creature of habit so that alone was enough to take me out of my comfort zone.  But I also realized that one of the reasons I liked to go, go, go was that I never had time to focus on the past, or things that made me sad.  I just ignored all of that.  Being home all day, every day didn't allow me to ignore that stuff anymore.  I have been on a true mission of dealing with just crap that I have ignored for my whole life.  It has been hard.  Really hard.  However, I am finally starting to feel grateful for this time (although I think I will still always wish it did not happen).  I am grateful that I have had to sift through my feelings and finally think about me and what makes me happy and what I want out of life and who I want in my life.  I am grateful to have seen my daughters' beautiful faces every day.  I am grateful to have had a husband that has held me while I have cried oh so many times.  While, I still hope and pray that every day I wake up, it will be "normal", I am finally grateful.

Feeling Lost and Hopeless

It's been a while since I decided to write.  I have not been able to put anything into words that seems to fit.  But today was a breaking point for me.  I cried for hours, and to the point that my husband thought he should leave work to come home and be with me.  So what got me here?

There are just so many unknowns in the world right now.  I am such a planner that this is so dang hard for me to wrap my head around.  You can't plan literally anything right now.  My 6 year old will ask me when the parks will open?  I don't know.  Will the swimming pool open this year?  I don't know.  When can I go back to karate?  I don't know.  When can I go back to school?  I don't know.  I hope you are seeing the pattern here.  

Then there are the worries.  Right now, both myself and my husband are still working and I am very thankful for that.  He goes to work everyday, while I work from home.  I however work in the healthcare industry and everyday that this pandemic continues, puts a strain on the companies finances.  I am always worrying about if/when I may lose my job.  Then there's always the worries that the media is portraying.  Will we run out of food?  Will there be a meat shortage soon?  Both my husband and daughter are on immune suppressant medicines which puts them in a high risk category.  But beyond that, my daughter is supposed to have her annual CT scan this month to see if she is still cancer free.  That will not happen.  It will be postponed for months.  So if her sarcoma, which is an aggressive form of cancer, returns we will not know for months.  Big worry.

What's next? Ahh yes, the hatred in the world right now.  Everybody seems to have lost any concept of understanding and compassion that they may have once had.  People have lost the ability to see that it is ok to have differing opinions.  What is best for one person, is not what is best for someone else.  And if you disagree, you are called selfish and wished upon to catch the virus.  I myself was told I was selfish this week for mourning my old way of life by someone I considered a good friend.  Wow.  I didn't know that I wasn't allowed to feel sadness anymore.

The absolute hardest part for me is the constant feeling of being a failure.  Last week, I worked 50 hours from home  along with homeschooling my 6 year old, and trying to keep up with the house, her karate classes, our 2 dogs, ordering our groceries online only to pick up the order and be missing 1 item needed for 4 different meals.  I see others on social media posting about how great this family time is and how much they are loving it, and I have to admit...I DO NOT.  This is the hardest thing I have ever attempted in my whole life.  But if you dare share those feelings with anyone, you are put down.  How selfish of me to be tired.  I should be thankful I still have a job.  How selfish of me to have a hard time homeschooling my daughter.  I should be thankful for this time I get to spend with her.  Well guess what folks??  I do enjoy the time with her and I am thankful for my job.  That does NOT make it any easier.  Also, I cannot just change my feelings.  I cannot just make myself happy.  Don't people understand if it were that easy, everyone would do it?

Today was the day I finally had the thought that maybe my family would be better off without me.  Do you have any idea what that feels like?  I cry all the time.  Not because I want to.  Because I can't help it.  I feel so very hopeless.  Instead of hiding with these feelings, I shared them with my husband.  And now I am sharing them here.  I know I am not alone in feeling this way right now.  And if you are feeling this way, you are not alone either.  We can continue to fight together.  I will not give up.  I may believe that my daughters deserve better than me...however I do not want to hurt them.  And I know me being gone would hurt them.  I will continue to get up everyday and fight the good fight.  I will continue to teach my daughter karate.  I will continue to do the best I can at my job while working remotely.  I will continue to be open with my husband about my feelings.  

What I hope to convey with this is that you really have no idea where someone is in their life.  If you have nothing but hateful things to say, walk away.  Your words may be the one thing that pushes someone over the edge.  This is a very hard time for everybody.  Show love and compassion.  Just be kind friends.  We are all that we have here on this Earth.

Face Masks Made from Crafts

This is a very crazy time in our world.  We are on what feels like day 20000 of quarantine but is realistically like day 22.  Face masks are very hard to come across and obtain.  Having 2 people in our house with compromised immune systems, I knew I would have to get a little creative.

I started searching my house for what materials I could use to make masks for my family members.  I am 99% sure I threw away the extra elastic I had...what a tragedy right now.  So what could I use?  I have a few paid or leftover leggings that I have not sold.  Nice, stretchy material.  Seems like a good fit.  I also had a few old headbands that I used to use to make baby skirts from tulle.  I am not sure what made me hold onto them this long but hey, it works for me now.  I have seen that the best masks utilize some kind of filter.  I have seen a lot of folks using coffee filters.  Sadly, we don't drink coffee in this house.  What I do have however, is tulle from said skirts above.  Yep that could work for a filter.

I need to reiterate that these are just for our family.  I am not encouraging anyone to wear these and think that they replace better, store bought masks.  This is just a mom, trying to get resourceful for my tribe.

I started by just cutting a piece of material from the leg of the leggings.  I cut it all the way through, so both front and back.  Then I sewed the bottom of it together to create a pouch along the top.

I then cut a headband so that I had one long piece instead of a circular piece.  I measured it to my daughters head, cut and sewed it to the side of the legging material to the headband, pinching the sides together to make a tighter fit.  Last, I sewed the edges of the top pouch, just to make it a little smaller.  I cut some of the tulle and put it inside the pouch as a filter.  This can be easily changed out after an outing. Is it perfect? No, but it will work for our purposes.  Get craft mama's and look around your house.  You never know what you may be able to make.

Day 8 of Social Distancing

Well, here we are on day 8 of social distancing.  What exactly does this mean?  It means you are supposed to basically stay home unless it is necessary to leave.  When you do leave, you are asked to maintain a 3 foot distance between you and anybody else.  School are closed for a month (depending on what part of Michigan you live in).  Everything is cancelled and closed. No restaurants to eat at, no movie theaters to go relax, no gym to burn off some steam.  Even retailers are closing that do not sell groceries. 

Thankfully, I am able to perform my job at home so here I sit with my 6 year old, trying to find a balance of work, schooling, and basically staying alive.  Derek is still working.  He works in a warehouse with less than 10 people and he is washing regularly so I feel somewhat safe about it.  They aren't offering them not to work and we would not survive without both incomes for very long. 

Kayla will be home from school this weekend for the indefinite future.  It will be nice to have an extra set of hands around but also scary.  That will be 2 people in the house with compromised immune systems.  I wish I could just put them in bubbles.  Poor Kayla's 21st birthday is coming up.  How fun will that be to spend it at home with her parents, locked in with nowhere to go?  No shopping with that birthday money because nothing is open.  I can only make her what we can find in the stores for a birthday meal.  It's a bad time for birthdays all around.

I ran to the store yesterday and bought a deck of cards (I can't believe we didn't already have one), UNO, and some paint kits.  We have lots of games and books.  We have game systems and ipads.  What else are you guys using to entertain your children?  It's a rainy day today so I am looking for any and all ideas.  Take care and be safe out there.

Pandemic of 2020

This is by far the craziest time that I can remember in all of my 38 years so far.  The fear of this virus is taking over and people are starting to panic.  What does this look like to your family?

Both my older daughter Kayla and my husband Derek have compromised immune systems due to the medications that they are on.  This is a terrifying time for them.  Kayla goes to the University of Michigan, which has went to online format only for the rest of this semester.  However, she is an RA in a dorm so she is not allowed to leave or it is seen as forfeiting her job.  She also works at the University of Michigan hospital in the gift shop. She is literally around thousands of people each day.  Unfortunately, if she forfeits her RA position, she would lose her room and possible her housing benefits that have already been paid and we would need to cover that cost.  We simply do not have that kind of money.  That is why she is an RA in the first place.  I advised her to try and stay isolated in her room as much as possible and wash, wash, wash those hands.

Poor Kinley is only 6 years old and is so scared and upset over this whole thing.  Their little minds cannot comprehend what is going on.  All she knows is that her karate tournament which she has worked so hard for is cancelled, her friends birthday party she was looking forward to is cancelled, school is cancelled for the next 3 weeks during reading month which is such a fun time.  She has seen the chaos at the stores and is worried we will run out of food.  She is scared she will bring home germs to her dad and he could die because "he isn't healthy already".  The Easter egg hunts are already being cancelled.  Literally every fun activity is being cancelled.  How can we expect children to understand and just accept it?  More than half of the adults I see are having a hard time accepting it and everyone seems to be in a state of shock. 

Most of us have never lived through anything quite like this.  Something that is just crippling not just our country, but most of the world.  There are so very many moving parts to this problem. How can families that were barely making ends meet, now provide breakfast and lunch for these children that may have been getting it for free at school?  How can they continue to work if their kids do not have school for at least the next 3 weeks?  Who will take care of the kids?  Even if they find some place, can they afford it?  What about all of the folks who are out of work due to events being cancelled so they have no income coming in?  What will they do?  All of these unanswered questions are by far the scariest part of this whole pandemic.

The only things that we can for sure do right now is wash your hands to help stop the spread. Stay home as much as possible. Be kind to others as everyone is beyond stressed. Share items that you may have an abundance of that are in high demand.  Offer to help ease the childcare burden for a friend if you are able.  This is the time to show exactly what you are made of and truly make a difference.  And above all, hold your loved ones a little tighter today as we do not know what tomorrow will bring.

Are Play Dates Not a Thing Anymore

Now I know that there is a great big old age gap between my children, but I swear it feels like I am raising them in an entirely different world.  Do kids not have friends anymore?  Do playdates and sleepovers still exist?

When Kayla was young, I swear she had friends over or was at a friends house pretty much every weekend.  Kinley on the other hand has not been invited to a single sleepover or playdate.  Now there have been talks of a sleepover with a friend but the official invite just never came.  We did have this same friend to our house for a sleepover in September.  Now before you say it, yes they are a little young and yes, trust me, I realize times have changed.  However, the heartbreak I feel when Kinley looks and me and says she wishes she had friends to play with is just terrible.  We have tried many, many groups and activities like swimming, pom, gymnastics, girl scouts, karate, bowling, all to just name a few from the last year and a half.  None of these have resulted in friends.  None of Derek or I's friends have children her age.  So I ask you, is this how it is now?  Is this just reality of childhood these days?  She is so desperate that the other day, we heard kids playing outside, and she ran out to ask if she could join, despite her shyness and never having seen these kids before.  She was so excited and has not stopped talking about the experience, which I apparently really took for granted as a child and when Kayla was a child.  For those wondering, I believe these children are moving in a few houses down but cannot confirm that since this was the first and only time we have seen or heard them.

How do your kids make friends?  Where did they meet them?  Are they your friends children?  I need more ideas on how to find her friends that are convenient enough that she can sustain.  Let's be honest, friends that live too far away, may not be able to be sustained at this young age.  And we don't need a ton (although we would welcome it).  I would definitely take quality over quantity here.  I just need to know where to start.

Working Full time

Sometimes being a full-time working mom is hard...really hard.  Does anyone feel me on this?? You are being pulled in every direction by every person.  There's always a deadline to meet, a project to make, an appointment to be scheduled.

We live in Michigan so the weather is very unpredictable and well, it's winter.  The last 2 days have been snow days for my 6 year old.  We don't have backup care (helloooooo village, where are you??). We do have a camp that we use in situations like this sometimes but even they were not open as they didn't have enough kids to operate.  So what do you do??  One parent has to stay home.  I mean a 6 year old can't exactly fend for themselves for 8 plus hours.  I am a salaried colleague with the slight option to work from home occassionally.  My husband is an hourly employee who had already put in 8 hours of overtime which he would lose if he called in.  So of course, I am the option to stay home.  Now mind you, I work in the accounting field (loosely) so the end of the month is one of the busiest times for me.  Again though, what choice do we have?

I guess I am just frustrated that we have no other options.  I want to be reliable at work, but I also HAVE (and want) to be reliable for my child.  It's a very tough balance, especially when you are the breadwinner of the family.  How do you keep both ends happy and satisfied?  Please, let me hear how you all do it.  Maybe you have a suggestion that I haven't thought of.

How to fit it all in

Do you ever have those days, or even weeks, when you just have so much to do that you have no idea how it will all get done??  Today is one of those days with the potential of it being one of those weeks.

Kinley has just been obsessed with cooking lately so when the school offered a cooking concoction class, we knew we wanted to sign her up.  Mind you, we signed up in December when we had no idea what our schedule would look like at this time.  She also has a karate tournament this weekend which means amped up classes this weekend to prepare.  She wants to compete in board breaking which she has done all of 2 times in her life.  Once at her first competition and once in a class a few days before said competition.  So clearly she needs all the practice she can get.

So this morning, it was Monday morning as usual, except for yesterday was daylight savings so we are all a little tired and off of our game today.  Kinley will have her cooking class which is supposed to go until 5:35, and board breaking class starts at 5:30.  So Derek will go to the karate school to save our seats, while I pick Kinley up from cooking class 15 minutes early, so she can change clothes in the car.  Thankfully they asked them to bring a snack so we sent a lunchable to hold her over.  She has board breaking class from 5:30-6:30 and then weapons class from 6:30-7.  Yeah, I forgot to fill you in on how she just learned the ending to her weapons routine and has to compete with it THIS Saturday.  Then it will be home for official dinner, reading, and bed by 8.

As parents, why do we do this to ourselves and to our kids??  We feel stressed.  They feel stressed.  But when I asked her if there was something she was willing to skip, there was not.  She really wanted to participate in each thing.  It's a great life lesson for her I suppose.  Some days just suck and are hard, but they are all for a greater purpose.

Do Opposites Attract and Work

My husband Derek and I could not be more different if we tried.  I am very much organized, rigid, yet very outgoing.  He is very go with the flow and shy.  In many ways, we balance each other out.  He brings me down to a normal level when I get overly excited or wound up about something and I push him to be a bit more of an over achiever.

These differences go back even to our childhood and upbringing.  He lived in what I refer to as pleasantville.  His parents were still married, he had one brother, was around extended family, never lost a loved one.  It was a very vanilla childhood and he had very little to fear in life.

My childhood on the other hand was much different.  While I won't go into all of the details, it was very much the opposite of Derek's.  My parents had never been married and there were step parents and siblings along the way. My father was murdered when I was 8. It was just a MUCH different life than what Derek experienced.

Now as we are together raising our daughters, these differences really stand out.  I have many, many more fears for them.  Derek, in the earlier days, very much felt like I was over exaggerating and always thinking the worst. It made me very angry and bitter that he could not share my worries and definitely did not understand them. We had to have a lot of deep conversations, and therapy,  on why neither one of us were necessarily wrong in our thoughts.  Your experiences in life train your brain on what to feel and how much to worry.  He didn't have to worry as a child, so why would his brain start to worry as an adult?  I on the other hand, always worry and will always worry as long as my children are out of my sight, no matter how old they become.  Does it mean that I am a paranoid person and always expecting the worst?  No.  It does mean that I am aware of what the "worst" could be and that it could happen. 

While I do think our differences are great and really balance each other out, it takes a lot of open communication to make it work.  Does he still think I worry too much sometimes and I think he should be more concerned at others?  Absolutely.  That will never change.  But our understanding of each other and what makes us tick, will only grow deeper as we continue to communicate and our daughters get the bonus of seeing both sides of the spectrum as they grow up.

Welcome!!

Hi y'all and welcome to my story!!  No I am not from the south but y'all is one of my favorite expressions :)

My name is Tiffany and I am 38 years old, born and raised here in Michigan.  I am married to a wonderful man named Derek and I have 2 wonderful daughters Kayla (20) and Kinley (6).  Boy,
that sounded like an introduction to a contestant on the wheel of fortune!

Life has just been CRAZY for us the last few years and I decided to write this blog, just really as a release for myself.  I hope that you can find some humor in it and maybe relate to it a little bit.  I understand that I will not be everyone's cup of tea and that is perfectly okay.  This is just me, sharing a bit of "this mama's crazy life".

Cute Valentine's Treats for Children

Valentine's Day has always been a big deal in our house.  It stems back from my fond memories or making the valentines boxes at school, and dropping valentines into my friends' boxes, going home and reading them over.  Such fond memories.  I have mostly always done goodie bags for this holiday with lots of candy, pencils, stamps, whatever we could find that was pink!  This year however, Kinley wanted to do a craft.  And this weekends weather was supposed to be atrocious, so we figured what better time than now.  Kinley scoured Pinterest for a very long time before settling on 2 projects that she wanted to try. She simply couldn't pick between them and being a craft lover myself, I agreed to both.

The first option she chose was a Unicorn foam heart Valentine.  These are the items you would need as well as scissors and glue (I used a hot glue gun).

I wanted just plain foam hearts but at the 2 stores I checked I could not find any in the size that I wanted so I bought this kit at Hobby Lobby and just used the hearts out of it.  It wasn't a bad deal with a 40% off coupon. The lollipops I bought at Walmart and they were 20 for $4.99.  I did find some on Amazon, but they were more expensive, and they were not prime eligible.  We chose a glitter foam sheet that we found at Walmart, but any craft store sells them. Lastly, you need rainbow yarn.  The kind we bought created extra work and I will explain why.  In the original tutorial we seen on how to make these, they had recommended wrapping the yarn around your hand 8-10 times and then simply cutting both sides to make the hair.  Our yarn did not change colors often enough for this method.  We ended up cutting about 4inch strips and just let Kinley bunch them together for each one. 

To start out, you would gently fold your foam heart in half and make a small cut with scissors to make room for the lollipop.

Next, we got a good pile of hair (yarn) together and tied one of the 4-inch strips around it to keep it together.  Put a dab of glue on the back and place this just slightly above your cut for the lollipop.  From here, I hand cut the ears out of the glitter foam.  They may have looked better if I had a template but hey A for effort.  We chose to draw the eyes last so we could line them up better with our ears.  Last, you slide your lollipop in the hole to make it appear to be the Unicorn horn.  It is an adorable and tasty Valentines treat.

The next project we decided to do was this cute little glitter candy bug.  These are the supplies you will need along with scissors and some type of glue.  We used mod podge for this project.

The googly eyes we got from Walmart for $.98, the pipe cleaners and clothespins are both from Hobby Lobby, but you should be able to find them at Walmart.  We used a fine glitter from the Dollar Tree in their new craft section.  Lastly, you need some kind of treat that the sides can fan out like a butterfly.

First things first…. glitter!!!!!  The way we went about this is by coating one side of the clothespin with mod podge and then putting on our googly eyes, then mod podged around them.  It can be difficult to glue items to glitter so that is why we did eyes first, glitter immediately after while the mod podge is still wet.  Because I know how messy loose glitter can be, we decided to do a second layer of mod podge over the glitter to help keep some of it in.  I hope the parents of the recipients appreciate that.  You will want to let your mod podge fully dry before you continue.

For your body, you need some kind of treat that can be moved to the side of the package.  We used m&m's, but you could use fruit snacks or anything else similar in size.  You will want to pinch the middle of the treat package together to create an illusion of wings.  Take half of a pipe cleaner (just fold them in half and cut to easily find the center) and wrap it tightly around the candy. Use the leftover length to create whatever type of antennae's you would like for your cute little butterfly.

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Cutting an Image With Vinyl to Create a Great Gift

My sister has lived in another state for most of our lives
so when it comes to gift giving it's a little difficult. I don't get to see her
daily or even weekly to pick up on little things she likes.  I don't know what color scheme her house is
since she has moved since our last visit. 
But what do know is that she LOVES her dog.  How could I incorporate her dog into a gift I
could make with my Cricut?  There are
tons of options.  I decided to go with an
image on vinyl on a pillow.

First, I snuck off to her Facebook to find a perfect picture
of the pup.  Now to get an image into a
vector file you can use on your Cricut, there are a few ways.  I decided to use an app called Imaengine that
is available for Apple products. 

You upload the picture and turned it into an ink file.  On the app, you can clean it up as much as you would like by changing the threshold, freckles, and other specs.  I love this app so I paid the fee to be able to download the images I create because why shouldn't I support the developer of such a cool app??  From there you can upload the image into Design Space and clean it up more if you would like to, but it is not needed at all.  My sisters' dog is black, so I used matte blank iron on vinyl (make sure to cut it as a mirror image).

Cricut SportFlex Iron On Vinyl, DIY Supplies, 11.8” x 24” HTV Roll - Black

 For the pillow covers,
I wanted something a little rustic so off to Amazon I went for something with a
burlap look to it.  These are what I settled
on.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C6MTY9F/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tlHome Brilliant 2 Pack Burlap Decorative Pillow Covers Lined Linen Cushion Sham for Living Room, 18x18 inches, Light Linen

 I was very pleasantly
surprised when they arrived.  They were
great quality and exactly the look I was going for.  They were also thick enough that I didn't
need to worry about the heat from my press ruining them when applying the vinyl.

She was absolutely thrilled when she received it and bonus,
it actually matched her house!!

How I Worked Around Our Small Bedroom

Our bedroom is small….like really small.  It's one of those rooms that only has one solid wall.  It has 3 doors and one window.  It makes it very hard for room setup options.  Now before we bought this place we splurged on a big old king sized bed (that I think we are still paying on) so downsizing the bed was not an option for me.  Basically, we have too much stuff and not enough room.   I tried a couple of room configurations that just wouldn't work because of one reason or another.  A big problem in a lot of these was not being able to pull the dresser drawers out far enough.  So off to IKEA we went. 

I was thinking outside of the box here.  My traditional husband however went right to the plain old dresser section.  He looked at me like I was crazy when I said we need something that could function like a dresser without being an actual dresser.  I wanted sliding doors of some sort to alleviate the pulling out space issue.  So, we stumbled upon this storage cabinet with glass sliding doors.  It was the perfect height.  I loved the look of it, but could it function as a dresser??  Now my husband does all the laundry (yes, I am spoiled in that aspect) and he does not fold any of his own clothes.  So, with glass doors, it would always look messy and I knew that would stress me out.  It's the one thing I despise about our house being entirely open concept is that there is nowhere to hide the mess.  By this point, the kids were tired, and I was overwhelmed so we left emptyhanded

That night I went home and looked around my room and just knew there had to be a better solution.  We scoured the internet for the perfect dresser and oh we found some that were way outside of our little budget.  I just kept going back to the same item I seen at IKEA.  Finally, I thought of a compromise.  I could simply frost the glass!  This would allow me the sliding doors that would work in our room, as well as my husband the freedom to not fold his clothes without stressing me out.  What a breakthrough.  Back to Ikea we went to but this unit.  While building it, I still had some concerns.  We had 8 drawers in our old dresser, and this only had 5 shelves.  Would it be large enough to fit our clothes?  Would the frost cover enough to not make me lose my mind?  The answer to the first question is a resounding yes.  It has more space than our dresser due to the height of the shelves.  I did 2 coats of frost in the worst conditions possible.  I will admit it did not frost as well as I had pictured in my head but that is totally an error on my part and could be corrected when the weather warms up.  It did cover enough for me to not be stressed out though.

We are one week in and so far, I am loving this upgraded dresser option which costs significantly less than a traditional dresser.

I need to find a better picture that doesn't make it appear as smeared as this. This is not what it looks like in person.