Work it! Wednesday #5: Spring has Sprung!

Hey all! Welcome to another Work it! Wednesday!

Now that Spring has sprung, there are lots of projects on our plate right now.
With my mom stopping by this past weekend to attend our yearly Crop for Autism, I've been getting more in the crafty mood for once.
What I'm working on these days (and some projects with the hubs too):

 Felt like doing some hoop knitting, just for kicks. Might try to make a hat.

 These pretties have come out in bloom in front of the house. I hope we can get more flowers to plant, so our landscape is all colorful and pretty!

 I found these at the Christmas Tree Store. I couldn't find plain bright colored ones, but these will match nicely with the others that are plain colored to officially cover the outdoor seats. Can't wait to get that project DONE, since we've been holding off finishing them till we got more stuff to cover all of the seats.

 I made these over the weekend for a Project Life swap. Can't wait to get the whole year's worth of Project Life week cards and card candy back. Took me a LONG time to make 27 sets (26 weeks and one for the hostess) but I hope it will be worth it in the end, when I get a whole year's back from my fellow swappers. :D

 My mom gave me one of her sewing machines (she has a bunch, since she sews for a living), and since my tiny one really sucks. She helped me set it all up and re-learn some sewing tips.

 I then purchased my first "real" pattern. I aim to make the skirt on the bottom left.

In the above fabric! Wish me luck- I'm kind of a sewing newb. lol

Other happenings include later this week talking with the fire marshall, so we can figure out if we can make the fire pit where we want to put it. Also, getting the home all cleaned up and ready for spring/summer, since the temperature went from cold and rainy, to hot-as-hell.
Anyone know anything about central AC? This is the first place we've lived in that has central AC, and I can't tell if I'm an AC idiot or ours is having issues. eeek!

Anyways, have a wonderful Wednesday all! 

What are you all working on?
-M

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Crop Pink layouts, starting Project Life and Steampunk Pink spirit (Steampink)

So I was going through my blog-o past posts and realized I never posted pictures from this year's Crop Pink event from October! This crop is something my mom and I do every year, and I guess with the buying a house and moving deal, I got sidetracked and didn't post pics.
First off, I gotta show you our first place win for the Crop Pink spirit contest. Every year you can dress up in anything pink, or scrapbooking related-spirit garb and show off your spirit for the cause. I got this idea a few months before the crop that we would do a Steam Pink costume getup. Steampunk but with pink and breast cancer awareness. I searched endlessly for if anyone had done it before us, and only found a single woman who did anything steampunk and breast cancer awareness related. So my mom and I had a blast putting these costumes together and making a banner "Geared Up" and our steampunk guns (a laser tag gun- the big one, and water guns- the small ones). I was going to use this for my Halloween costume, however with Hurricane Sandy, it will have to be for this coming Halloween. haha. I know my mom wore hers on a Halloween race she ran with my step dad.

We had a blast and connected with some of the regulars this year. There was some fun times at the hotel, but overall, I got a lot done.
Here's some of the projects.

(My mom at the crop)

Also, some of the vendors booths had amazing  make-and-takes. Trays were all the rage this year. I love it! (will have to post pics of the 2 trays later...forgot to photograph them. One was a Halloween tray the other was a family tray).

And here are some projects that the Stampin' Up vendor made. So cool!

I even started my Project Life (I haven't done much since then, but it's a start).

 (super cool ceiling in the crop room)

I also discovered the Feedly app (above) over the time at the crop. I loveee it now- helps me stay connected to the massive amount of blogs I follow by using my Google Reader feed and organizing it into a pretty viewer app.

Anyways, sorry these are sooooo behind (like over 3 months behind), but better late then never, right?
-M

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Getting started on Project Life

Ok. So I got the Becky Higgins Project Life Cherry collection from my mom as a present for hitting my goal weight while on Weight Watchers (lost 63 lbs since October- you can read more about my weight loss adventure over at my Food/Weight loss blog: http://www.steppingwithsmiles.blogspot.com/ )

ANYWAYS,
So I went through and set up the basics for the intro page and back page, though I'm pretty sure the amount of sheet protectors I have will last me only each month, as opposed to each week- like I'd like to do if I can.
So far I printed out a few of my pictures to start it off the week before I got the project life in the mail, and started writing down the basic events that happened for that week and this week (and wrote down what events I knew would be happening in the future).

My question to anyone out there is what is your system for Project Life? Do you do it per week or per month? Or do you just do it with whatever you feel like it? Do you have a spot in your craft room just for that? What's your favorite products or freebies that you use in your Project Life?
I know I'm full of questions, but this is something new and I'd love feedback.
I did start a Pinterest board here just for inspiration and freebies for Project Life, so if you want to follow (or contribute- just ask me) I'd love it! If you want to follow all of my Pinterest boards, please do! Just forewarning, I'm kind of obsessed with Pinterest. Right now I'm at 51 boards and 8,026 pins!

Anyways, when I get week one started, I'll show it off to you all. :D
(I hope I can get to start working on these on Mondays, since that's my next day off!)

Other things: My mom sent me a rolodex card she made for a swap using my Frenzified Spooks and Scares Set. Don't you adore it!?

Also, another question if anyone knows the answer.
Do you all remember this lovely tv stand I got at the SalVal for our future home?

Well I acquired 2 bookcases like this (imagine light wood):

What do you all suggest? Should I stain the bookcases to try to match them, or paint all 3 something?
I want our future living room to have this scheme,

  but I'm not sure the best route to take on this bookcases/tv stand.

Now we haven't got the house officially yet, though it is looking promising with the most recent events. That being said, I'm trying to figure out what I can paint furniture wise ahead of time, so any input would be awesome! Including, what Black paint would be the best to paint this lovely?:

We are crossing fingers that the date we were told is actually the true closing date- as we still haven't gotten the paperwork back (darn you Short Sales for taking so long), but this time the supposed closing date was given to us by the Sellers bank, so we hope it is true this time! *fingers crossed*

I hope to get some feedback from you all!
Anyways, Happy crafting and DIY-ing!
M

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