Excuses, excuses, excuses... excuses

I know, I know... I promised details on the craft room a month ago.

What can I say... I have a lot of good excuses starting with:

Computer on the fritz... grrrr. I consider myself a pretty rational and calm person so why is it when my computer doesn't do what I tell it to do I go completely M-A-D. So, I finally gave up and decided to "walk away from the computer" to save my sanity.

(My honey tried to fix it yesterday by completely wiping it clean and I totally forgot to have him save all my fonts!!!!! )

Excuse 2:

Ummm.... yes, I am pregnant (read: tired, ornery, sleepy, sick, unmotivated, moody, exhausted, nauseated, you get the point). Can I just say the 1st trimester totally STINKS. You feel like crud and you can't fit into anything but you don't look pregnant you just look like you've eaten way too many Reese's pieces, chocolate chip cookies, and nachos... which I have.

Can't wait to get to the 2nd trimester and the "nesting stage" which is usually when I decide to donate everything I own to Goodwill and remodel the whole house top to bottom... love that stage.

Final excuse- my sweet sister Melissa came to visit me for 2 weeks this month with her little girlies. In the past our visits were full of crafting, cooking, sewing, and shopping. Now that we have 6 kids between the 2 of us it was more like cooking, cleaning, laundry, and sleeping. Our 2 year-olds kept us on our toes. It's amazing what ideas they come up with when they put there heads together.... little stinkers.

We had a great time together and although its fun to craft 24/7 we are in a different stage in our lives now and all we can do is let go of our "to-do list" sometimes and enjoy these little ones while they're still little.

So there you have it. My list of "good" excuses. I'm ready to get posting again with details on my favorite things in my craft room (like the pegboard, LOVE it) soon. Well, as soon as I can get my photoshop elements running (darn computer!)

New to me

Hello there.

I've been busy:

Moving across the country to our new house...
Enjoying my new view...

And my new niece...

And spending time with my family on a new beach.

Finally feeling settled in and ready to create something "new".

Nice to be back. :)

Losing Focus

I have a love/ hate relationship with blogging.

I love it because it opens me to a whole new world of ideas and information and creativity and gives me a place to share my thoughts and ideas and projects. Not to mention meet new people like YOU! I LOVE it!!

The hate (lets say dislike- hate is a strong word)part comes in because I sometimes find myself spending WAY too much time on the computer. I have 4 young kids and I can't tell you how many times they have stood next to me asking me a question over and over again, trying to get my attention as I jump from blog to blog.

Anyway, I feel I am losing my focus... gotta take a step back.

My kids will only be this little for a "little" while and I just don't want to regret how I spent this time.

So, thanks for being so good to nannygoat. Your comments make me smile (LOVE that part too)and I will see you in a "little" while... that rhymed

PS This is just a much needed break... I'll be back

I WON! I WON!!

There are so many great giveaways these days all over the blogging world but honestly I rarely enter any of them. Why you ask... because I look down and see there are 279 comments and I think -There is NO WAY I would win.

Well, the other day I was reading one of my fav craft blogs, 30Days, and saw she was giving away an item from Downeast to TWO lucky readers and hello, I LOVE downeast and well to make a long story short I took the risk (539 comments people!) and...

I WON! I WON!!!! I WON!!!!!!

Yep, so I am gettin' me some of these cuties:

Can't wait till spring to slip them on.

And yeah, I'm pretty much entering every giveaway from here on out! ;)

Thanks again Mique!!

Something was missing

I've been feeling (for several months now) that our house was missing something.

Something important to me... and everyone else living in this house.

Something I wanted to be able to see daily and something that those around me could see and enjoy and hopefully feel something inside.

A few weeks ago I found the something in the back corner of Lowes by the garden hoses and yard gnomes that are covered in dust

and I bought it and I rushed home to open it

and carefully... reverently hang it up.

I love this country.

Hanging this flag is my way of saying...

I am grateful

for God

for freedom

for our founding fathers

for those who have lost their lives to protect those freedoms

It is also my way of saying...

I am here

I have a vote

I can make a difference

I will stand for what is right and true and good.

I will fight for my family, my religion, my values... for the USA I know and love.

I am an American.

So join me. Accessorize ;) your house with something that matters.

Hang a flag and make your own statement.

(Then take a picture and post it pretty please. I want to see.) :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wow, what a year it has been for nannygoat, thanks to all of you!!!!

Really, I can't tell you how much fun we have had and how much we love to read your sweet comments and see your projects. Melissa and I do this blog totally for fun because we love to craft and we love to share our projects with each other. Actually, that's how the blog started. I moved 1600 miles away from Melissa and so I started a blog just so I could show her pictures of my projects on the new house and she could tell me what she thought.

I never imagined it would turn into what it has. This year nannygoat's stat counter has gone from a few hundred hits a day back in January to now thousands of hits every day.

Holy Cow peoples!

Thanks for reading friends.

And now a re-post of nannygoat's most popular post of 2009.

Here it is:

OUR PLAYHOUSE

(originally posted 6-11-09)

I little over a year ago my hubby told me he wanted to turn the attic above the garage into a bonus room. I thought he was CrAzY since the only way we could do it financially was if we did ALL of the work (and when I say "we" I mean "he") and he is a very busy resident. Not to mention the fact that he has never built a room before.

Anyway, make a long story short, HE DID IT!

During the process we found there was a little nook in the back of the attic and at first we thought we might just wall it off but then we decided it would be perfect for a little "playhouse" for the kids, especially since it opens into their playroom.

I keep adding stuff to it as I find new things (on sale or at garage sales of course) but this is how it has turned out... so far.

BEFORE :

(literally a hole in the wall)

AFTER:

I want to put up a little roof face that comes out of the wall with wood shingles eventually but that is at the bottom of a long list of things to do so we'll see. Until then I think this iron piece gives it the shape of a rooftop.

I ordered this vinyl "Welcome" sign from Scribble it. You can't really tell from the pictures but the rod iron piece and the "welcome" sign are chocolate brown.

I LUUUVVVV it!

Remember, I am just learning (notice I didn't say "can't", baby steps people) how to sew. These curtains are actually placemats I found and loved the colors so I just folded over one side and made a seam for the curtain rod.
This window is perfect for puppet shows too!

Here is the inside of the playhouse.

See the artwork display in the back? Just a 1x4 piece of painted wood with clips mounted on it.
Easy!

Remember the silly lady that sold me a dresser for $5? She also sold me this gold framed mirror for $3... I love that silly lady.
I spray painted it with a high gloss turquoise and put the kid's "dress-up" clothes next to it.

I swore years ago that I would never paint anything orange in my house...

You should never swear. ;)heehee

So there you have it. Our new playhouse.
P.S. Literally 5 seconds after I took these pictures my two-year-old came through and destroyed all of my "staging" efforts. Real life at our house is NeVEr this clean. ;0

Nannygoat in Top 10 tutorials for 2009

I'm so excited!

Our Funky Bow Holder tutorial was one of

Ucreate's TOP 10 Tutorials for 2009!!!

How cool is that?! Go here to check out the others.

Thanks Kari!

our 15 seconds of fame

So... Did you see Studio 5 today???

Nannygoat was totally on it! I'm still giddy from it all.

Okay, I don't live in Utah so Melissa recorded it and then took her digital video camera and pointed it at the TV so we could all watch it on YouTube together... Hurray!

Are you ready??

Watch it here.

AAAAAhhh! Did you watch it ? Crazy huh.

Okay, I had to laugh that the "gunk" wasn't coming off too well on TV.

Maybe it needed to soak a little longer. lol

So now we just gotta keep an eye out for all the paparazzi...

I've heard they're ruthless...

yep...

they should be here any minute...

Yep, We're pretty much famous.

So I got an email this week from Studio 5 on KSL in SLC, Utah.

They found nannygoat and wanted to share this tip from nannygoat with the women of SLC on their show today.

So yep, we are pretty much famous. ;)

It's true

Okay, your not going to believe this...

Today's Creative Blog did a feature on Nannygoat!!

They really did... I'm serious!

If you don't believe me go see for yourself already. :)

Who's got the button... We do!

Yep, I figured out how to make a button for nanny goat.

Okay... I know it's probably silly for me to have a button for this little craft blog but believe it or not we've gained quite a following...

Thanks to so many of you who are spreading the word.

So if you love crafting and you love nanny goat then grab our button and wear it proudly. :)

(just copy and paste the code below onto your sidebar... and let me know if it actually works ;0)

<a href="http://littlenannygoat.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Photobucket" src="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x261/kathrynannygoat/nannygoat-button.jpg"/></a>