Getting my craft on!

For the past few months I haven't been in school (soon to change!) or had a job, so needless to say I've had A LOT of time on my hands! To keep myself occupied I have become seriously addicted to craft blogs, I LOVE them! Take a look under my "Other Blogs I Love" to see some amazing ones. Because of this addiction I've created quite a few new things for our quaint little apartment. Evan is also so encouraging of my budding creativity (I'm not sure how good I am yet, but practice makes perfect!), and got me my one request for Christmas... a sewing machine! I hadn't sewn anything since taking home economics in 6th grade, but I've learned a lot of new things and it's been SO dang fun! Get ready for picture overload of my recent projects!
The awesome awesome sewing machine (that I've fallen in love with) and my little craft station I've created for myself.

How I store all my ribbon!
A sock monkey I made for cute little niece.

Pillows for our living room!


Pillows for our bed.
My new apron I sewed because starting tomorrow I'm also taking a cake decorating class! I am SO excited!
Bathroom decor.


I painted these little blocks of wood, and then made the flowers out of cupcake liners!

We don't have a headboard, so I just painted a few canvases and printed of some pictures. Evan calls it our shrine to us, haha!

We needed some nightstands, but I wasn't about to spend hundreds of dollars so I picked up these T.V. trays from D.I. for $3! I just painted them and then distressed them and voila! Nightstands!

The before of the nightstands/T.V. trays.
I wanted some lamps for our nightstands too, but the pretty ones were all too pricey, and the plains one were just plain ugly. So I bought a couple plain ones, and then added my own flair.

A jewelery holder! I have TONS of chunky necklaces that I love, but they just got tangled or I'd forget about them in my jewelry box (also known as a plastic container from walmart). And so my jewelry holder was born. They're just $.50 frames from D.I. (I love that place), that I mod-podged with fabric. Easy-peasy.

Another fun modge podge project for our bookshelves.
And modge podged kitched decor!
And this is by far my favorite project. I actually painted this! We have a few things from Evan's mission in Mozambique, Africa, but our wall was just missing something. So I picked up a few cheap canvases ($7 total) and thought I'd try my hand at painting, if I screwed it up it was only $7, haha. But I actually really like it and it now hangs proudly in our living room.
I also made my sister-in-law Ali a carseat cover for her baby (who's making his presence in just a few short hours!) and a giraffe and elephant stuffed animal. Then I sewed myself a skirt (but I was too lazy to put it on to take a picture of it, next time I'm wearing it I will), and my sister loved my skirt so I made her one and my sweet niece a matching one, so fun! I still need to give it to them though, so we'll get pictures then. So far my sewing adventures have turned out awesome, until last night at least! I attempted to sew a doll, only to accidently sew her leg and one arm inside out, and the other arm upside down! Haha, she's still cute, but definitely a reject doll, hopefully I'll do better next time!
In other news:

• Oliver's due date is Saturday (Feb.5th), and to be honest I've been worried about how I'm going to handle it, but I also just want it to pass because I feel like it's the last big obstacle I have to overcome. Wish me luck! The plan is to fast and spend part of the day in the temple.

• Also, I'll be finding out if I'm accepted into Hygiene school the beginning of March! SO excited about this! Evan is also back in school for the semester just finishing up his generals (and doing awesome), and loving his job at Brand Makers! Such a great company to work for!

• And last but not least Evan and I started working out again! Finally! I hadn't run since last June when I found out I was pregnant. I was doing really well training for a half marathon when I found out, and then heard running *could* cause miscarriage, and I wasn't about to risk anything. Then there was the birth and all the medical tests I've had to do since then, so I haven't really been able to until now. Plus, let's be honest here, I hate running (but I love being in shape) :) haha. Anyway, we finally started working out again and I love it.

Well that's it for now, I'm sure I'll update on Sunday or sometime next week to say how Saturday went. Thanks to anybody who read :).