Jenn Tries...

You know I've been working on this blog thing for about 8 months now. And for the better part of that 8 months I've been crafting and writing posts and trying to find my niche in a very busy crafting blog business. And I've been content just thinking that my point of view on crafting would be enough to gain some followers. And I don't think I was necessarily wrong in that assumption (if I had been willing to actually advertise my blog, people would be following me by now), but after working on a couple of Try Me! Tuesday posts, I discovered how much I like doing stuff like that. Perhaps even more than crafting... This may come as a shock that I actually went to college to study Biology, in hopes that one day I would head off to med school and become a doctor. Well by the time I was ready to graduate, I no longer loved Biology or the idea of more schooling, so I gave up on that idea and went to enjoy life. After a while I thought eventually my Bio learning and love

AKA the infamous project that took up most of my free time! Anyway right after we had Blue I knew I wanted to make his crib bumper and spell his name out with nautical flag letters. And considering I had no idea what I was doing, it turned out pretty nice. I just had some fit issues around the corners and had to put in some filler pieces. So even before we were trying for Lion I knew I wanted to make crib bumpers for all of my kids. And yes I know they are totally frowned upon nowadays, but I like the way they look in the nursery and all of our children sleep in our bedroom until they are past all dangers. (Lion just turned 10 months and he's still sleeping in his co-sleeper, so I think he'll be okay with the crib bumper once we move him into his own crib) Luckily after a little research on Pinterest I stumbled upon  LeanneBarlow; Elle Apparel . Which gives a full tutorial on how to make everything you need for your crib. Along with a great tutorial on how to make

This is what I wanted to say last Monday, but just couldn't find the words for. I was 12 when Columbine Massacre happened. I was too young for it to make much of an impact, other than to this day I look at people with trench coats funny; convinced they are hiding guns underneath. I was 20 and in college when the Virginia Tech Massacre. Despite being hundreds of miles away, it was the first mass shooting that I can remember deeply affecting me. . I just remember thinking this was college. It's supposed to be the wildest time in my life. School shootings were for bullied high schools who thought they had no other choice. (Because that's what they told us Columbine was all about... little did I understand the truth at that time). And now I no longer felt safe. What was to stop it from happening at my college? And then last year 3 months after we had welcomed Lion the Paris Massacre happened. It was the worst to date. And I just remember thinking how am I supposed to r

I'm back again with another update for my activity book. For this next page I decided I wanted to work backwards. I knew somewhere in my book I wanted to put in a clock. I realize that by the time either one of my boys learn to read a clock they'll know longer be playing with the activity book, but I just wanted to get them used to what a clock looks like and a little bit on how it works. Plus Blue so far is happy to point out all the numbers around the face to me. So once I had the idea for the page, I knew there was no better letter for this than T. So without further ado here is my page for T is for Time. Here's What You Need: Dark Purple felt White Felt Black Felt Assorted Buttons Needle and Embroidery Thread Scissors Optional: Drawing Compass Here's How You Do It: Step 1: Create the Clock Face Cut a large circle out for your white felt (approximately with 6 inch diameter). I traced a large coffee container to create my circle, but you could

Updated 6/16/16: I know I just posted this about a week ago, but I wasn't really satsified with how it turned out. So I decided to redo it and try to make it how I wanted it to be in the first place. For my very first edition of Try Me Tuesday (even though this is late on a Thursday), I thought I would stick close to home and try to replicate teething biscuits. Lion is in the fun stage of learning how to feed himself and getting teeth. I find teething biscuits are great for both. And Blue for some reason really enjoys eating them too. Normally I buy my boys  Baby Mum-Mum Teething Biscuits . They're really great. They're free of most allergen producing foods, dye free and I believe they are all non-gmo. (You can also find them in organic as well). They come two to a package. So it makes it easy to share between my two boys (or enough for a snack for Blue). I really have no complaints about them. However I was intrigued by the idea of making my own for my boys. I

This year is a very special Father's Day for us in the Lietz household as it is also Blue's birthday. So for Father's Day I knew I had to find a project that I could make not only for Mike but also that would work for Blue as well. Mike is the chef in our family and Blue's getting to that age where he wants to help us with everything. So I thought the perfect gift for the two of them would to make them some aprons. And really its a good gift to give your own cook at home and not just a good Father's Day idea. Here's What You Need: Adult Apron  (It's a set of two so you can either make one for yourself or just have a spare handy) Kid's Arpon Pellon 805 Wonder Under Fusible Web Heavy Duty, Fabric Paint 1/2 yard of Flannel Fabric (or whatever spare fabric you have lying around) Needle and Embroidery Thread (or a Sewing Machine) Scissors Optional:  Foam Brush Set Optional:  Scotchguard Here's How You Do It: (If you would lik

It's been a rough couple of days here. I don't think I've ever mentioned this, but I grew up in Orlando and now live on the west side of Orange County, Fl (where Orlando is located). So its a city that's always been there in my life. I thankfully am a homebody and had to get up with my kids on Sunday, so I wasn't involved in anything that happened. However it still weighs heavy on my heart. I can't even find words to describe how I'm feeling right. I suppose numb is the right word. It just feels like so wrong. And like it shouldn't have happened so close to home. Maybe one day I'll be able to get my thoughts together to talk about it. But for right now it's all still too close. And the more information they post the worse I feel about it. I think perhaps the worst part is I no longer feel safe in my town.  And I know it'll all get better, but for now its just so hard. Sorry to be a bummer. Next Monday will be a lot better!

Happy Monday All! Can't believe we're here again, but here we are! I once again don't really know what to say today. This past month has been an interesting one to say the least. Two of my high school friends have recently stated they are starting blogs and I equally long to do the same and equally get annoyed that they are copying me. (They're not. They don't even know I've been slowly working on my own blog for almost 8 months now). It's just frustrating.   And as much as I would love to do that same. I'm still at a dead end as to what to call my blog. For a little bit I thought about calling it the Bootstrappers Guide to Crafting, but I'm still not sure if that's under copy write and I really didn't like it well enough to find out. So I did some more thinking and came up with the broke girls guide to crafting but that, like any really good idea, seems to be taken.  So its right back to the drawing board, but atleast I have an idea

All right here we are again with the next page in my Activity book! This time I went with the letter B and decided it was time for a page to help with fine motor skills. So I went with a B is for Button theme.  Originally I inspired by this page here: (Photo Credit:  The Montoya Family ) And I thought it would be nice to put button holes in the shapes and have them button into place. That way shapes could be learned and matched up. My downfall was that I've grown weary of always sealing up my edges with a blanket stitch, so I tried to sew the sides together and then flip it right side out and slip stitch the rest together. I ended up with some wonky looking shapes. And only my heart ended up looking like it should have. So I went back to Pinterest and began looking at various quiet books. Eventually I found this page right here: (Photo Credit: MjsFeltCreations ) I thought it was really charming and an interesting way to use buttons without being a literal b