Oh, how I love my Cricut!

I always promised myself that I was never going to buy a cricut machine. I mean, you spend all that money just so you can make die cuts??? Waste of money in my mind. In October, I had a few friends over for a scrapping party. One of my friends happened to bring her cricut machine. I decided to try it to cut out some letters and words for a few of the pages I was working on, and I instantly fell in love. I told my mom who happened to mention that my sister-in-law has a cricut and it has been in a box in her garage for a year. So, after bargaining with my SIL she let me borrow it for a few months in exchange for lessons on how to use it. Of course, the more I had it, the more I loved it. I happened to find a few good sales on the machines on the day after Thanksgiving. So I want to say thanks to my awesome husband for buying me a cricut machine for Christmas (well, I really bought it myself but since I am unemployed, he paid for it!!!). Here are just a few things that I have done with vinyl or sticky paper.

In our kitchen above the dog bowls.... Saying is so very true!
Master bathroom (the walls are actually white but the letters are reflective so I couldn't have my flash on)

Guest bath, most recent and so far my favorite. The cricut did everything except the water splashes, those I did by hand (I am sure it can do it but I just dont have a cartridge to allow it).

***Next will be my laundry room and office/craft room. Once they are complete, I will post pictures!

Krafty Kelsey Kontinues!

So, in my continuation to be crafty on a budget I have done the following projects as gifts for friends. Please remember that I am not working and am currently taking orders if any of you are interested!!! ;-)

YEAH! I sold my first Hooter Hider. Thanks Marilyn.... I hope Kelly loves it!

Hooter Hider for Kim and she absolutely loved it! And she better cause she picked out the fabric herself ;-)

Receiving blankets are the newest thing I have added to my craftiness. Here are a few that I did for my friend Sara. I threw two baby showers for her so I took the opportunity to turn her gifts into decorations. Baby shower pics will be posted soon!

Receiving blanket for Julian!

Bibs and burp cloth

Customized onesies. I loved this idea. I have a few more in the baby shower pictures you will see but I just loved the idea. So my nephew got a few late presents and I also made some really cute decorations that could be worn when baby Harrison (Sara's baby) arrives.

I visited my Sis-in-law before my newest nephew, Luke, was born and she was getting ready to do a baby shower and didnt know what to do. I took her to Wal-Mart, got all the items she would need and told her I would help her with the cake. When we got back, we started chatting and I started rolling diapers. Next thing I knew, the cake was done and we both looked at it in shock. Looks great, very inexpensive, and WAY fast.

Better yourself

When I was younger I use to always wonder why tanning beds were such a big deal. I loved laying out in the sun, spending the day by the pool. I was always tan and remember people telling me that I was going to get skin cancer. I remember responding to people saying "At least I am going to die enjoying being outside and seeing what Heavenly Father and the Lord made for us to enjoy". I always promised that I would never be one of those women who went to the tanning bed religiously and had that fake bake look. And then I graduated from high school, started college and got a "real" job. I still found time to lay out between class and work, on the weekends, etc. After meeting my husband and working more, my skin saw less and less sun.
Before our wedding, I started using a tanning bed so I would look completely pail for our wedding. Well, I got addicted. Yes, I love being outside and would much rather spend my time that way, but I dont have any time. Since our wedding (three years ago), I have gone to a tanning bed twice. My skin has not seen the sun nor a "bulb" since then. Its been over two years. Yes, I have gone out and about, been at the lake but I cover up a lot more than I used to, when I didnt look the way I do now. With work, school, cooking, cleaning, a husband and two dogs, I dont have time to go lay by the pool for hours, and its WAY too HOT in Florida to just lay outside in the yard without having a hose nearby or being winter time. Our apartment complex has a tanning bed and I thought I would start taking advantage of it since its there. My complexion gets better and I overall feel better about myself when I look tanner.

In addition to tanning, we have started the Biggest Loser competition again. This time, I am more motivated and plan on doing a lot better than last time. On Monday, my brother Greg was talking about wanting to lose weight and get tone. Logan has recently started to do the "E" word (aka - exercise). BTW - he doesn't do the "E" word, and never really has. So they made a bet who could lose the most in the month of September. Then my mom decided to get in on the bet, then I wanted in on the action, next was my sister in law, and then my dad. So off we all go. We all weighed ourselves on one scale so it would be even and the same throughout the whole competition. When I checked my weight, I was already 10lbs lower than what I thought I was, or what I remember being the last time I weighed myself. Since then, I have lost an addition pound (remember, its only been three days). I had it in my mind weeks ago and have been trying to eat better, eat less, and exercise more. This family "competition" just makes me want to get at it more! I'll keep posting and updating my weight loss success story!

As an additional side note, it has been four days without a Soda, and most importantly, without Caffeine!

Krafty Kelsey

I have decided I need to try to be more crafty recently. I have so many friends and family members who are pregnant that I decided I would start making Hooter Hiders (aka nursing aprons) for them. Here are a few pictures of a couple I have made. I really enjoy making them so if anyone reading this wants one or knows of someone who might be in need, I am current taking orders! ;-)

While out shopping about a month ago I came across an awesome saying, one of the vinyl rub-on wall sayings, that I absolutely had to have. Because we live in an apartment I didnt want to just paint it on the wall (which I normally would do cause I see my mom do it all the time), and this way it can be removed and even saved for our next place when we move again. My first thought about where to put the saying was to put it above our headboard....oh wait, we dont have a headboard! So, my creative mind started thinking. I went to the store, got 4 yards of fabric, three sheets of foam core board and went to town. The outcome of my creative attempt is below. Headboard, cute saying, and curtains (BONUS which I didnt have before either). Total cost for everything - approximately $28!

Back to school or not back to school...

So, for some of you who know already, Logan has decided he no longer wants to go back to school (if you want to know why, ask him). So after much deliberation (and some crying) I decided I need something different in my life and I have decided I am going to go back to school. I am not happy with my current job and the plan of us starting a family asap doesnt seem to be panning out like I would like it to. So on to different things. Now the deliberating is going to be what do I want to go into. Since Logan kind of dipped out on my dad and helping to take over the family business, I figured I would ask him what I could do to help since Logan was now out of the picture. So it looks as if I will be going into some type of business admin and possibly law after that or accounting. I am not really looking forward to either but in the long run it will be better and easier for our possible future family.

After being out of school for so long, I attempted to get readmitted to Santa Fe (now a 4 yr college and not a community college). I figured I would have to go to the school and talk to a counselor (which wouldnt work out well with trying to get time off of work) but just for the heck of it, I decided I would just log on to the website and see. With a click of my finger, I was re-admitted. It was that simple! I thought I remember seeing a note stating that I have to wait an alotted time before I could start taking classes, so I shut the laptop. Later that day, I had the feeling to go online and just see what classes I need to take, what classes I took in the past will transfer over to the new major, etc. Everywhere I looked, the website said register for classes, so I went through and picked a few classes, just to see. It let me register! We aren't ready for me to go back to school full time and quit work quite yet, so I registered for a couple classes to attend after work. I feel so blessed that things are working out. Things haven't seemed to be working out and I have felt more downs than up in the past few months. To have everything turn around in a matter of a few days feels amazing and I feel truly blessed that some of my prayers have been answered.

I am really doing this....I am taking a stand, changing my life and going back to school!

4th of July

For 4th of July the Anderson family got together and had a nice relaxing weekend at the lake. Greg, my brother, found a great campground on a lake with cabins and a huge mess hall.













We spent a few days having fun in the water. Swimming, boating, wave running, etc.
























We had two days of beautiful sunsets ending with fireworks, and smores by the fire. It was a nice relaxing weekend spent with family.

Baby shower, Bridal Shower and Wedding

Now that things have slowed down, I have the opportunity to fill everyone in on all the things I have been up to the past few months.



In January, I got the opportunity to throw a dear friend Rachel, a baby shower. Of course, I went ALL OUT! I baked the cake myself, had pretty good gifts for the guests, and made my first diaper cake as a gift to Rachel and baby Allie. Everyone loved the cake, which was my very first non-birthday cake I made (I have recently been inspired by too many Food Network cooking shows, and over priced cakes at the grocery store, to make cakes.... See below for wedding cake pictures!!!).

Thank you Kristi and Sis Meldrum for bringing food, it tasted awesome!

I heard many comments of what a good job I did and how the baby shower was "the best baby shower I have ever been too". Its always nice to hear things like that, especially after stressing over something so big as throwing someone the only baby shower they will ever have (in most circumstances). And Rachel loved getting all the diapers and taking apart each layer to see the presents within the layers. Now my future projects, diaper cakes for a future nephew, an unknown neice/nephew, and many pregnant friends!!!!


In May, I was able to throw a Bridal Shower for my best friend Sara. Unfortunately, I dont have any pictures of the shin-dig but it was a success. And from there I went to helping with the finishing touches on wedding details.

Sara and Jason were married on April 1st (she said no one would ever believe she got married so why not do it on April Fool's Day!) in very small ceremony at the Clerk of Court office (he is in the Navy and they knew they had to get married in order to allow her to any rights to any information if anything might happen to him while on duty... That and they are madly in love!!!). Because no family was able to be there, her mother and his mother decided they needed to have a ring ceremony for family and friends, although both the bride and groom (mostly the bride) didn't want to do so, they agreed knowing that there would be no way to get out of it. So Sara turned to me to assist with wedding details. After months of planning, everything was set and went smoothly, or as smoothly as is expected at any wedding!

Here are a few pictures of the wedding cake. Logan and I decided that our gift to the Bride and Groom would be the cake (whether purchased or baked myself). After getting prices from the local Publix, I decided the cake above & below (done by me, not Publix.... Can you tell?) was not worth $405, not including delivery. So I decided to take on the challenge and bake it myself.

I think the worse part of the whole experience was the travel. Driving from Gainesville to Jacksonville was aweful. Not to mention we were running late and Logan was going 110 most of the way, I KNEW something was going to go wrong. Due to the heat of Florida and the trunk of the car, some of the icing melted off the top layer of the cake and the bottom layer got some damage as well. But everything was fixable and turned out awesome!

For any of you who need it, I have experience with throwing showers and planning weddings, and can make a cake for any occassion!!!! Just give me a call!

Sara (Bride from above) just found out she is expecting, so I guess I have my next event scheduled. The calendar is booking up fast!!! ;-)