CardyBoard

What to do with a leftover set of boxes taking up room in the house? Recycle, throw away? No too easy, you know this is a craft house. I had the idea for a house for a while, but it would be too small for my daughter. The box sat waiting like so many precraft items.

Then the box hit me. No not literally. In the mail came a box that could be used as the roof. So I got out the handy knife blade, tape and a high tech floor plan.

Here is the finished product.:

Revenge of the Mouse

I decided that I would be funny and forward an email to my wife. That email was our itinerary to Disneyland in California in about two weeks. I had figured out that the only way that I was going to get a vacation from work was to spend money. I looked over at my wife after I knew she had gotten the message and waited for a reaction. Really?? I guess my surprises are coming too often or I talked about it too much. Anyways, back to the real story.

 Right after we get back from the Gardner Village adventure I asked her what she is doing. She tells me that she is putting together a Pinterest post on her blog, with the theme being about Disneyland. This brought the memories of out last trip in February. My wife went all out hunting down ideas for outfits that would appease the Disney gods. She had finally settled on a character. How many are there that it makes it that hard? After that came the decision should it be a shirt, dress, or both? I got to help in this choice and we went with a long shirt. Now little did I know that Snow white has like ten colors in her outfit. Of course they all have to match.

Being the good husband that I am, I volunteered to go to the store with her and our 2 year old. Not just any store, but Joann's the fabric store. I never knew there could be so many choices of fabric and colors for little projects. Remembering that I had bought her a sewing machine, I started to think about making furniture because they have the fabric for that. Then we could make our own drapes, followed by everything. I was even trying to figure out if you could made socks. Luckily I had seen a "How It Was Made" and put that one out of my mind. After I had run out of aisles to escape to by running my daughter around in the cart, we finally went to the cut table. I have never been in a store where you stand in line twice. What the crap?!

Now that we finally paid and got out of the store, my wife starts to doubt her skills as a sew master. This curse comes from a comment that someone said about it being above her skill level. So this of course lead to a trip to the mother-in-laws for more sewing lessons. (We won't go into the sewing lessons as I am not sure what happens at those.) Needless to say I just go back to the two crafty women in the same room, same project arena.

My wife finally sent me a picture of the shirt finished and on my daughter. It looked great.

 

For this trip, there were thoughts on what to make for the visit. I found out that a week and a half is not enough time to dive into all of the Pinterest and other blogs to get new ideas. So, for the next time, I will have to try to make the "last minute" a reality.

I would say I wish you all were here at Disneyland with us, but that would mean more people waiting in line in front of us for the rides. And if you happen to be in front of us, you'll know because Zoey is sure to say hi and introduce herself..

The Craft Side

Many of you may want to know how I was lured to the "Craft Side."  It all started with a wife that was a graphic designer. She worked for a company designing ads. When we found out that she was pregnant, we wanted to find a way that she could either work part time or stay home and watch our daughter. She had started to design birthday cards, and wedding invitations for our friends. Little did I know that this would lead to another life. One that men only talk about out of ear shot of women, even at work.

Soon the Apple computer came home. Sweet! We can always use a nice big screen to play games. Then came the Adobe CS4. Not quite sure what that was. I went along seeing that the program looked cool, but how do you even use it?  I had finally gotten a raise and we decided that we could survive off what I make and she could stay home. We soon realized that the invitations that she was making cost us too much money to have printed and cut at an outside vender. Then the next step down the path showed up. We got as a Christmas present from my parents a new high quality printer/scanner. Along with that came a "guillotine cutter." This made the print jobs bearable at home. I soon became the master of the blade. As the man it only made sense to make sure I was the one that used a tool with a name of "guillotine cutter". It was cool as it could cut through lots of sheets of paper at once. I even knew how many before it messed up the cuts.

This went on for a little while. She was able to stay home and watch Zoey while I went to work. Then the ideas started to come. She was going to make a blog to show what she had done to show others. Never being one that is satisfied with the basic blog she got designing her own. She started talking about HTML and how she could use that to earn some money here and there. I was like, "Sure honey." Next thing I know Happy Potamus Designs is born. That was kinda cool, so I rolled with it. This was how blogging started creeping its way through the door.

The next step was my fault, I will take the blame for this. This was the first Christmas together and we did not have any stockings. Being that we just had a baby and a $40,000 dollar doctor bill, my wife asked if she could make stockings for Christmas. I am mostly about being cheap, so of course I said yes. When she started the project she was going to her moms to use the sewing machine. Well, when you get two crafty people trying to do the same project, it never is pretty. My wife was sent packing with my mother-in-laws old sewing machine. The problem with the machine is that it slipped and wasn't that good for any real sewing. A light went off in my head. Buy her a sewing machine for Mothers Day. I didn't know what I was starting or what that small purchase would lead to. I thought I was being frugal and a good hubby at the same time. Brownie points for me.

The stockings turned out great. So with one project down, my wife had turned to the crafty side. Soon there were other projects and still more. Then one day I came home and "Artsy Fartsy Mama" had been born. Soon there was no turning back. She was hooked I went along with her craftiness, seeing that the house was being decorated for cheap.

Then it happened. A Hobby Lobby opened not five miles from where we lived. It was over. The addiction was fed. I was even invited to go with her. I saw the man section of model cars and airplanes and that had brought back memories of my doing models as a kid. Of course that was the only aisle.

Now my future is started with " I was thinking"...

Blog a de blog

Today, I took my wife and her friend to a blogging event by My Craft Channel at Gardner Village. Little did I know that meant that over a hundred blogging women would be there. When I first got there, I got the comment "Oh see, there IS another guy here." I was the sore thumb. As the ladies were gathering around eating the free refreshments, I had a brilliant idea. "Hurry up and get ahead of them all for the scavenger hunt!" So we ran out the restaurant door. With so much extra stuff, I was elected to carry the purse. Being the man I am, I decided that I would use sense of humor to get out of this.

The first stop was Highlite Photography. They wanted to take pictures with fake mustaches. I saw only one problem with this. I have a full beard. So to make it funny, I decided to put the mustache on and still hold my wife's purse. This brought lots of laughs. I had the upper hand and I was in for a good time. I was going to play the dweeby guy. After the awesome mustache pictures, it was time to move on. I became the guide on where to go next. Trying to guide two women around a basic mall would be a challenge. Gardner Village is dangerous for the wallet as it has just about everything a crafter could want.

We went to the next stop, Cottage Retreat Spa & Salon. Free hand wash to make hands softer and remove dead skin. "Hmm", I said to myself, "my hands are a little rough and I do have hang nails from work. However, what would people think if  I got caught?" So I watched being bored. This is when I realized that the amount of time that they spent was too much. We had to watch the time in each store, or they would not be able to enter for the prizes. I finally got them out and on their way.

The next few shops was just herding them out and on to the next. The next store even called to me, Sweet Afton's. If you can't figure out what is in this store then there is something you are missing. It was a candy/fudge shop. Of course I could not help but find out if the fudge was good. The sliver that they gave me did not do the fudge justice. I was trying to figure out how I could get more, but how to do this without drawing attention to myself? Crap, I couldn't figure out how to get more.

After this I really can't remember much as my man clock had already spend a half  hour shopping. I know there was some really cute stuff in the stores, but for the life of me my brain had shut off. After the scavenger hunt, we moved to The Gathering Place for treats and prizes. This is the first time in my life that I had been in a room with over a hundred women and about 4 guys.

I sat against the wall so I could watch the conversations. The entertainment level went up watching what happens when women don't think that men are around. It was very interesting and scary. This must be what Relief Society is like. Now I knew I had to leave, but I could not as I was the driver. I pulled the cell phone out hoping to escape to the internet. What?! Crappy service? I'm so in trouble. Now it hit me. Is it over yet?  Well, it will be better if my wife wins one of the prizes... Of course I keep listening, hoping that her name will be called, but no, it didn't happen. Well at least I now get to leave, yeah. Next time I will bring another guy to make him endure the fun as well.

Why oh Why!

As the name of the blog infers, I live in  the craft world. My wife is a crafter and a blogger. These are my stories. The names have been changed to protect the not so innocent. If you have been there and done that. Even had the t-shirt made this blog is for you.