Product labeling!

My husband found this wooooonderful app on our iPad, called Makr.

I'm completely addicted to it. He made an account for us and I currently have, I think, about seven projects saved on it. I've used it to make address labels, price tags, product labels, and business cards for A Hankering For! In a couple of days, we'll be ordering the pdf files for all of those items and printing them out soon after. I'll finally feel a smidge more legit. Yay! I plan on sending a handful of business cards with all orders that are shipped, so that'll be exciting.

With Makr, I was able to customize my own little logo, color wheel, and fonts used in my products. It's completely "me" and I'm in love with all of it!

There is a sneak peek of the address label set as my cover photo on my Facebook page.

Excitement!

-Erin

Alcohol Inks!

So my MIL, the wonderful woman she is, got myself and my husband completely addicted to using alcohol inks as a medium on ceramic tiles.

If you don't know what alcohol inks are, join the club. I had NO idea what to expect when using them. The brand we use is by Tim Holtz, they are acid free, called Adirondack, by Ranger Inks. The largest supply, that I've found, come from a crafts store here in Minnesota called Crafts Direct (I went to that store for the first time a little under a year ago. I am utterly hooked to it! I will miss it so when we move). The alcohol inks can also be found online and at Michael's.

But these alcohol inks are incredible. They are so fun to play around with and see the different ways that it can be manipulated. I'm not going to go into a full-on, detailed tutorial at the moment. I just wanted to post about some of the tiles we've completely thus far. We have roughly twenty tiles althogether!

This is an Instagram photo of a tile I half-arsed.

Those cute little bottles above it are the bottles of alcohol inks used.

This Instagram photo is of a tile I had started, on a whim, after helping

my husband with a wolf tile he was working on. The black outlining is actually

made by Tulip brand "Slick" dimensional fabric paint. It acts as a grout (the best

word we've found to describe it, lol) to separate the alcohol inks. 

This dream catcher is probably my favorite tile made, thus far.

Finished product:

Isn't it just gorg?!

This tile has some history. My husband actually drew that

swallow on the tile, originally meant for his sister. Then, because I free-handed

a better one, he took mine. So I turned this one into a tile representing the peace

and courage of kidney disease and kidney transplant awareness. 

[A friend of mine just donated one of her kidneys so that her father 

could have a kidney transplant that was much needed. If you'd like 

to donate to help them financially while they are both out of work, 

you can visit the linked website at the bottom of this post. Thanks a million!]

This Instagram photo (are we seeing a trend here?!) is another fave.

Spur-of-the-moment tile made because of a quote I had read (somewhere

on FB, I'm sure). A friend I graduated high school with put an order

in for one for herself shortly after posting this picture on FB. So excited!

[Thanks again, Jazmyn!]

This tile was one of the very first that I made. The top, darker picture is

just me goofing off. I didn't like the dark so much, so I used rubbing alcohol and

a stamper with felt attached to lighten the coloring of the background.

This MN tile is the VERY FIRST tile I worked on. I sat down with my MIL and 

had this idea, so I googled silhouette pictures of the state and free-handed the outline.

Lol, my MIL was floored at how well it looked. I take that as a HUGE compliment!

Like the previous tile posted, I lightened the background a bit. I like it very, very much now.

This tile-ugh-is not a favorite. I don't really know why, but I'm just not

very fond of this tile. The pattern was all free-handed, not measured out. I've tried

to convince myself that it is a cute tile, but I cannot. Creator's remorse, I call it. :]

Maybe I'll do a photo-detailed tutorial on alcohol inks in the future? I am just not sure about putting all the work into that detailed of a post with only a few (VERY beloved) readers. We'll see!

If you'd like to donate for the cause mentioned earlier in this post: Kimmy & Kimalie's Kidney Fundraiser

If you'd like to follow me on Instagram, if you don't already: @wishitwerethatsimple

-Erin

A New Year!

So, magically, 2014 is here.

The air seems colder (it is) and the sun feels warmer (it isn't).

This year is going to bring a lot of change for my little family.

• First up, A goes back to 2nd grade on Thursday. Which is tomorrow. 
• Then I am going to spend my Friday night with two wonderful gals that I have come to adore and love. They understand my thoughts before I can really say them. I'm so grateful for these two ladies and I will miss them dearly when we move. 
• Next up will be Christian going back to college for his last semester. With his schedule, I will be working nights (which really translates into "evenings" because I'm not working OVERnights) and I am not very excited about that. Especially since this means that I will be driving home in the dead of the night in the middle of winter on one of the worst roads. Paranoia, activate!
• Shortly after, I will be turning 26! -insert sarcastic gasp of horror at my old age-
• Then Christian and I will have a night out with some friends. We're super stoked about that.
• Then we have Miss A's EIGHTH birthday and birthday party. I'm totes magotes in denial about that one!
• Valentine's Day.
• Christian's 29th birthday! -insert real gasp of horror at his old age-
• Dabbled in there, once a week, I will be seeing a physical therapist to (hopefully) help with my tension and cluster migraines. This, in turn, will help with my overall health.
• After all of that, there will be more extended family birthdays, holidays, meetings, nights out, doctor appointments, phone calls for planning, laughs, cries, and a full range of crazy emotions.
• Christian will graduate college (for the SECOND time!) in May, A will finish up second grade in early June, we'll stick around through early-mid June for birthdays and then we will be packed up and moving to Alabammy!
• After that, who knows what will be happening for us! I know, for sure, a lot of visiting folks in the south, a lot of trips to the beach, trips to North Carolina to see my mom and her side of the family along with a best friend and her family in Charlotte, trips to the beaches in the Carolinas, and some serious relationship bonding with my little family. We'll be busy finding a place to live, jobs to interview for, and getting everything geared up for A to be a third grader and Miss C should be starting kindergarten, hopefully!

Either way, 2014 will be a very busy year for us. We have direct goals and plans in place and nothing will stop us from getting there!

How do you think your 2014 will shape up?



-Erin

Sappy!

I've been having a lot of migraine/tension migraine problems for a while now. I went to the clinic here in town and the doctor I visited with set me up on two new medications and referred me for physical therapy once a week to help with my neck/shoulder tension and pain. I started one of the new medications right away last night, instructed to take the medicine before bed time. This one is to help with sleep and that, in turn, will help with my tension migraines.

This drug must be really loopy because I had the absolute most vivid and disturbing dream I have ever had.

In my dreams, I never see faces. I only see shoulders and down and I am left with the context clues to figure out who is who in my dreams. The feeling that the person gives me is what I have to decifer and make out who that person is supposed to be (or represent) in my dream. In the dream I had last night, I knew who everyone was because I saw every part of them, including their face.

I don't recall what was going on in the beginning of the dream, I'm assuming that part isn't supposed to matter. But my husband and I were being chased and we had our daughters with us. We parked outside of a house and Miss C chose to stay in the car. Miss A decided she wanted to come with us. We were only going in the house to trap the person chasing us. Just when we thought we had it figured out and had the guy trapped and secured, we noticed A wasn't with us. I panicked and ran back into the last room I had seen her in. The guy was standing over her lifeless body, laughing manically. Christian dragged me out of the house, to the car and drove away. I remember feeling like there was nothing left in the world. I drove myself back to that house to take A's body only to find that her body was gone.

My father had come and picked her up and buried her next to my paternal grandmother. Flash forward and it's after her funeral (to which I'm assuming I didn't attend; I had no memory of it). I remember riding in the car and just wailing in the backseat, looking across from me to where A should have been seated. We arrived at a family gathering that was at a park near the cemetery where my first born child lay. My dad kept reassuring me that I didn't have to be there; no one expected me to be out in public. I kept telling him that I HAD to do it. I HAD to be out, I HAD to be around others. I did, after all, have my second born daughter still depending on her mother. I remember holding C, sitting at the grave where A was buried, just sobbing.

Then, back in real life, my husband opened the bedroom door and I smelled bacon.

As I woke from my dream, this confused stupor ran over me. I hadn't seen A that morning before she left for school, so I was feeling super disconnected from her. I had a range of emotions and felt like picking her up from school right away. I resisted this urge; I knew she was fine. But this dream just reminded me that I am too hard on her. I expect too much and I get too frustrated too easily. She deserves more of a mother from me. I have to stop being Erin and starting being A's Mom. I don't plan on losing myself, but I've got to be more for her. I have to remember to let her be silly and weird. When she does something that makes me cringe my nose, I have to remember that she's only seven. She will learn from her experiences and become her own person. I still have to raise her. I still have to punish her and reprimand her. But I don't have to do it with a vengence. That isn't parenting.

She reminds me of everything I was as as child. I must not ruin her. She's amazing.




-Erin

Jake and the Neverland Pirates!

So Miss C had her birthday party on her birth date, which was September 28. I, naturally, was not feeling very well that day. But that is still NO excuse for not posting the pictures here. I am absolutely losing my mind when it comes to updating my blog. I really should stick post-it notes all over the house to remind me.

Nevertheless, here are too many pictures from that wonderful party!

This is the full view of the food table. 

I am overly proud of my table tent signs!

Peg Legs (bbq weenies with sword toothpicks)

Celery Planks (celery sticks trimmed down)

Carrot Planks (carrot sticks sliced)

Tic Toc Croc Slop (Watergate salad)

Gold Nuggets (colby jack cheese cubes)

Skully's Crackers (Club crackers; because Skully is a, ya know, parrot)

Fish & Chips (goldfish and Lay's wavy chips)

Cannonballs (black olives; everyone in the family LOVES them)

This is a full shot of the gift table

"X Marks The Spot" 

Pixie Dust (Wonka PixyStix in jars with cork stops,

strung with leather cord to emulate Izzy's pixie dust pouch)

This table also had:

Pirate's Booty (Rolo's and Hershey's bars as gold bars)

Strawberry and yellow buttercake cupcakes with gold sprinkles

And these are all pictures of Miss C opening her

presents and blowing out her birthday candles! 

Everyone that attended said that this was a wonderful birthday party. I am so glad so many people enjoyed it. I was also informed that most of the kids were talking about it for quite some time. Makes me beam with pride! One of my neices were over a while back and found some leftover party necklaces. 

She instantly smiled. "Were these from C's party?"

I nodded in confirmation.

"I had the best time that day."

-Erin

Homemade Salsa!

       So a friend of mine on Facebook asked for me to share the recipe for this really awesome salsa I made a little while back. I thought about if I REALLY wanted to share it. Even my husband was a smidge shocked when I told him I'd be sitting down to post this recipe. But I figured that this recipe should be enjoyed by as many folks as possible!

-EDIT-

Said friend commented on the link I posted to her facebook and here is her review:

   "Forgot to tell you, but we did make this salsa!! It was delicious! Matt was working 12hr night shifts when I did and he took it to work and everyone there raved over it too! Huge hit!! Thank you for sharing!!"

I do all of my prep work first. It makes for easier clean-up along the way.

Know this up front: you need a food processor. It's a great investment. It does all the hard work for you and makes for super easy clean-up. Just...get one. DO EEEET.

Start off by removing the seeds from your jalapenos. I always cut the stem side of the jalapeno off, then slice it in fourths. I then remove the seeds by slicing the whole white part off of the pepper. Make sure that you have removed all seeds! Even if you think you did, double check. Set the peppers aside. (As you can see, I went all pro-status and had my little glass bowls ready.)

I, then, take four cloves of garlic and peel them and cut each of them in half. Set those aside as well. (If you're anything like me...you never know what part of the garlic is the clove. Lol, jk. But seriously. When you go to the store, you'll see garlic bulbs in a crate. Buy just one of those. Then you break the bulb apart and each little segment is the clove.)

Grab your tomatoes next. Slice off where the stem grew on the tomato. I prefer to take the tomato and chop it up into pretty big chunks. I don't leave it whole before throwing it in the food processor because I don't like my salsa chunky. If you like your salsa chunky, by all means, leave them whole. Either way, set the tomatoes aside. (I am now singing the "I like 'em chunkay" song that the dude rhino sings to Gloria in Madagascar 2. Join in!)

Open your can of diced tomatoes and drain them. More or less, however much you want. I drained them as much as possible because the salsa turns into soup very easily. So the less liquid to add, the better. (I think this also goes along with the chunky-ness of the tomatoes. "I like 'em big. I like 'em chunkay. I like 'em big. I like 'em plumpay." Ahhh. Don't google the song. Don't do it, k?)

Take a good handful of your cilantro bunch. Cut the stems off right at where the leaves begin. Then chop these up a bit. (I always like moving my knife around like they do on all the cooking shows. I feel so special when I do.) You want the cilantro to be pretty finely chopped. You don't want to use the processor to chop these up because then all of your other ingredients become super thin.

Cut your lime in half. Take in the sweet, sweet smell of the lime. Do not taste the lime. Just. Don't.

Make sure to have all your other seasonings on the work space with the correct measuring tool available. (AKA use the same spoon for everything.)

Directions:

Combine your jalapenos and garlic. Process these two ingredients together until they are finely chopped. Scrape down the sides of the processor bowl and then process them some more.

Now. For the tricky part:

Add all other ingredients to the food processor. Pulse in very brief pulses until everything looks good. Move the salsa to a bowl. Squeeze your lime juice over the salsa, then mix with the scraping utensil. Taste salsa. Probably add a smidge more lime juice. Revel in the wonderful smell of salsa. Eat all the salsa before anyone else has a chance to. Don't forget to sometimes eat salsa with chips.

Ingredients:

2 fresh jalapenoes, seeded

4 garlic cloves, halved

2 large vine-ripened tomatoes

1 (28oz) can of diced tomatoes, drained

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp cumin

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper

Juice of one lime

Enjoy!

-Erin

Update.

I cannot believe it has seriously been FIVE months since I've posted anything on this blog.

Like, what was I thinking?!!

We've been extremely busy in our world. Summer came, we did nothing. I worked all the time, every weekend and still have not much to show for it. My husband is taking five classes this fall at the local community college, our oldest daughter is in second grade and our youngest daughter will be turning four  in almost two weeks. I'm currently searching for a new job, although still employed at my old one.

My husband and I have decided to move to Alabama. I always tend to say "back to Alabama" but my husband informed me that we haven't lived in Alabama as a family, so we are not moving back there. We're just moving. So we're just moving in June 2014.

In other news: we're really excited for Miss C's birthday party on the 28th. We're doing a Jake and the Neverland Pirates themed party. The things I have for this party are so freaking adorable. It's killing me not to upload pictures and share them. But I'm trying to wait. Not my strong suit.

So here's my update. I'm really hoping the next one won't be five months away. :[