My, my, time flies!

Wowie.  I've been naughty and haven't posted a life update in a while.  My sincerest apologies to all my family who was concerned that I might not still be alive.

Lots has happened recently.  As you know, I didn't have a job for a while there - 2 months to be more precise.  But, praise Jesus, I have found a "temporary" job at a local call center.  I say "temporary" in that I'm only going to be working there until I find something else.  Right now I'm in training from 5:15 am to 1:15 pm Monday through Friday - talk about being exhausted.  But I'm pushing through and actually kind of enjoying it so far.  I'm also currently being considered for a position that I'm really, really, REALLY hoping and praying that I get - basically my dream job.  I'm kind of in the last rounds of the process and should know more in the next few weeks!  As always, when I know, you'll know.

I'm not sure if I mentioned before that I had the privilege of attending youth camp this summer as a chaperone, which was fantastic.  Jesus really affirmed my call to ministry during that week.  So much so, in fact, that a part of me wonders if one of the reasons I had to leave my old job was just so I could be blessed at youth camp.  :)  Especially since one of the middle school girls that went with us had some "come to Jesus" stuff going on in her life that week.  One night she camp up to me during the altar call with a huge smile on her face and said, "So, I wanna be clean.  Like, I don't want to do bad stuff anymore."  It was such a sweet moment for me as a leader.  I fist bumped her and we prayed together.  WELL, tomorrow morning she is going to be baptized, and since our youth pastor is going to be away, she requested that I be there with her as she prepares for all of it!  What a blessing!!!  I can't wait!

In other news, I attended a Thirty-One party a couple of months ago.  This isn't huge news in and of itself, especially since most of my friends down in the South know exactly what I mean when I say Thirty-One.  But it's a new thing up here in the NW.  Like really new.  And at that party, I fell in love.  Seriously.  I'm pretty sure I almost peed my pants.  So I decided that I need to sell the products!  You heard me right - I'm now an independent consultant for Thirty-One Gifts!  And if you decide you need to buy anything, you can check out my personal shopping website at www.mythirtyone.com/kendallclary/.  Here's a picture of me the day I received my kit in the mail - can you tell how excited I was to break into it?!

Port Orchard (where I live) has free concerts on the water front all throughout the summer every year, and Chewie and I went to a couple of them: a bluegrass group and a Sinatra cover night.  The bluegrass was fun, but my favorite was the Sinatra covers.  The guy sang classic Sinatra songs, as well as some others from Frankie Vallie, Dean Martin, and Ray Charles (among others).  It was rather enjoyable.  Here's a pic of me and Chewie from the Sinatra night:

But I have to say the best part about the Sinatra night was seeing people there who actually attended Sinatra concerts and heard Dean Martin sing live back in the day.  Our favorite of all was this guy - he walked through the crowd dancing and singing to other people.  It was precious, especially when his wife joined him for a dance on the lawn. 

There isn't a whole lot of other stuff going on right now.  I'm just trying to get adjusted to the weird work hours and also trying to manage to get everything else in life done.  I'm not really used to working 40 hours a week, and I'm definitely not acclimated yet - but getting there!  Hope you are all doing well and beating the summer heat!

Tutorial: LOVE Wall Decor

My bare walls needed some "love" - so I made these wall hangings out of cardboard and scrapbook paper.  Call me cheap, but I "love" 'em!

1. Cut a piece of cardboard into 4 pieces of the same size and shape.  I used the side of a cardboard box from the box fan I bought a couple of weeks ago.
2. Cut out letter forms to use as a stencil.  I made these from white scrapbook paper.  
3. Flip the cardboard over to the back, and lay your letters down on backwards.  Trace the letters.  The reason it's on the back is so that marks from your pencil/pen/marker are on the back and not the front.
4. Use an Xacto knife to cut out your shapes.  (Save those extra letters for a project to be posted on The KC Experience at a later date.)
5. Pick out paper to glue behind your letters, and glue those suckers on!

That's it!  I like to think I'm the queen of simple.  :)  To hang them, I just hot glued some gift wrap ribbon to the back sides and hung them on push pins!  I don't know about you, but I'm pretty impressed with my ingenuity. 

Tutorial: Toilet Paper Tube Flowers

Yep, I made these out of toilet paper tubes.  I know, I'm awesome.  Here's how to do it:

1. Flatten out some toilet paper/paper towel tubes.  
2. Cut them into equal sizes.  I cut each tp tube in 6 parts.  One cut down the middle.  Then each section into thirds.  
3. Gather your tube sections.
4. Hot glue or tacky glue them together into a flower.  

Easy peasy, people.  Just hot glue/tacky glue and toilet paper/paper towel tubes.  You can choose to spray paint them, but I kind of like them the way the are for the time being.  And now these adorn my wall!

Harry Potter Inspired Ripple Scarf

After my friends and I went to see the final Harry Potter film, I was moved to make a Gryffindor inspired scarf.  A couple of years ago I knitted a "first year" scarf for Chewie that turned out fantastic (I actually wore it during the movie).  But it took FOREVER to make since it was exceptionally wide for a scarf, and it was knitted instead of crocheted.  So I knew that knitting it was out of the question.

I started to crochet one like what you see in the movies, but ultimately decided to go with something different.

What do you think???  I really love it.

I used this pattern from over at Attic24 - I love her blog - as a guideline for the ripples.

It measures about 70-80 inches, which is long for a scarf, but I can't stand scarves that are too short.  Better too long than too short.

I did two rows of each color for each color stripe and added the tassels on the end for some extra flair.

Other than the fact that it's HP inspired, the other cool thing is that maroon and gold are the local high school's colors - so I can wear it to football games in the fall and show some school spirit!  Go team!

"Mr. & Mrs." Pillow Set Tutorial

I finished this project a while ago and just haven't gotten around to posting it yet.  So here goes:

I give you the "Mr. & Mrs." Pillow Set!  I've wanted to make these for SO long, and I finally did.  I love how they turned out.  I saw several people posting similar projects and knew I had to try it out (and I'm pretty sure they're an Anthropologie knock-off).

I'll tell you what I did to make mine.  It was actually relatively simple.

Things you'll need:

• 2 Pillow forms - mine are 18' x 18'
• Burlap - enough to cover both pillows
• Black fabric paint
• Twine
• Large needle - like a sturdy yarn needle
• Liquid Stitch
• Pink and Blue ribbon
• Paintbrush - I used a cheap sponge one

The first thing to do is make the actual pillowcases.  I cheated and used Liquid Stitch instead of sewing them.  This is a good tutorial to follow - it's a tutorial to sew the pillow cases, but you can adjust it for the Liquid Stitch.  But first...

I wanted the edges on the outside of the pillowcase (on the back) to be a little nicer than what the Liquid Stitch allows.  So I used twine to hand stitch a seam along the edge (just fold it over and stitch).  Then I took the blue/pink ribbon and hand stitched those into the seam.  It's not as difficult as it sounds.  Hopefully the picture helps explain that some.

Ok.  So once you've done the edges (if you want), make the pillow case.  It's simple, and Liquid Stitch is forgiving for a little while if you make a mistake.  Allow to dry completely.

(You should end up with something like these.)

Next you're going to make a stencil for the pillowcases.  For the words - I used WordArt in Microsoft Word and used a font and size I thought would work well for my pillow.  This part is really up to your taste.  Just make sure it's big enough to use as a stencil.  Print it out and cut out the letters for a makeshift stencil.  Sorry that I don't have pictures of my ghetto stencil for an example.  

Make sure you insert cardboard or some other thick paper in the middle of your pillowcases so the paint doesn't seep through to the other side.

Secure the makeshift stencil onto the pillowcases using tape, and then paint the words onto the pillowcases. Allow to dry completely.  (I know - it's hard to wait...)  

(I made another pillowcase out of some other fabric I had on hand while I waited for the paint to dry!)

Last thing to do is insert the pillows.  And there you have it!  I'm thinking about making a few more sets for wedding/anniversary gifts because I have extra burlap and extra pillow forms.  I can't wait to use mine in wedding pics one day.  Whenever that is.  Haha.  

Happy crafting!