We are just days away from 2018 and like many people, I’m thinking about what I would like to change in the new year. Pretty much every year of my adulthood has included resolutions to “be healthier,” “eat better,” “lose X amount of pounds,” etc. The problems with those kinds of goals is that they aren’t SMART (Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely, for those of you who didn’t know that was a thing). We set goals without plans and as Tony Horton says, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” That’s good life advice right there! This year I’m going to set realistic goals, like, staying awake until 10 pm or to remember to open the vertical blinds in the kitchen when we leave so that Sansa doesn’t knock the slats down with her tail while barking at something she may or may not see outside and then murder them, leaving bits of white plastic strewn throughout the house.  See? Those are some attainable goals. I’ll have to work on the staying up later one though. I’ll have to plan for how I’m going to spend my time so that I don’t sit on the couch taking Buzzfeed quizzes about how my candy preferences will reveal whether or not 2018 will be a good year for me. Spoiler: It will just be okay. Apparently being partial to KitKat and pink Starbursts will kick my new year right into mediocrity 🤷🏻‍♀️. 

I have picked up a new hobby (big surprise, I know) that I have been filling my time with. Well, to be accurate, I’ve rediscovered my love for an old hobby.  I loved painting when I was in high school but I haven’t done much of it in recent years. During our staff Christmas party at the center we did a paint and *chat* (ahem) which really sparked my love of painting all over again. We sponsored a community adult painting class in November that I participated in but my painting turned out horribly and I thought I had lost my creative ability. Turns out I just needed an easel, versus painting on a flat surface. That change made this second go round a million times better. So here are some of the pictures I’ve painted recently: 

For my oldest nephew. 

For my oldest niece. 

For my friend, Marsha Claus 😉😂🤶🏻. That’s only funny if you know about her side gig during the month of December. I’ll leave it to your imagination 😆

For my favorite 5 year old 😏

For my friend, Kim, who pinned this from me on Pinterest with the intention of painting it herself, only I didn’t know that and took it as a sign that she liked the pic so I painted it for her 😂. 

Just some “Pin”spirational pics. 


These last two are from the staff Christmas party. My bff Marsha took this pic while I was painting. 

*Pinterest has some great inspiration. Most of these paintings were replications of ones I found on there. Full disclosure 😉. 

I will soon have yet another hobby to share because I have the best husband ever, who got me a pottery wheel for Christmas! If you have ever watched someone using one on TV or in a movie and you thought it looked easy, you were wrong, my friend. Philip and I spent several hours watching YouTube videos and trying to center the clay the first time I got it out. There was clay on the walls, on the floor, on the table (top and legs), on my coat that I had moved a couple of feet away, and definitely on us. There is a very specific way to do it and if you don’t, the clay will make fun of you and call you names while it whips itself across the room and splatters all over the wall. I’m totally not kidding about the flying across the room part. You have to keep your left hand angled from 7 to 11 o’clock and pushed firmly onto the bat (that’s pottery talk for plastic plate). The woman in the video that I was listening to and not watching told me to “chop” the clay and to Philip’s amusement, that does not mean to karate chop it. You just hold your hand in a karate chop position on top of the clay and push down a little. If you karate chop it, it’s likely to go flying across the room and splatter against the wall. Are you sensing a theme here? Once (or if) you get it centered you can start to create something, usually a cylinder or bowl to begin with. I made a bowl and Philip made the start of a coffee cup. I made a second bowl directly on the turntable and not on a bat, which meant I had to move it when I was done and let’s just say that one turned out very special looking. I’m going to have to use a kiln to fire the clay at some point. I know of a place where my friend, Chris, goes to and she is going to show me the ropes soon, so more to come on that in the future! 

*this one can’t go in a kiln because it’s not the right kind of clay for that. It will never be waterproof but will work fine for, say, holding pens or more likely, chapstick, because I have a tube in every room of the house. That’s not an exaggeration. 👄👄👄

I’ve made some vinyl crafts this month also, but I couldn’t share them before because most were Christmas presents. This is an example of one I made several of, with different names and dates, obviously:

Today I spent the afternoon working on these cups: 

 

I LOVE coffee cups. We’re going to have quite an assortment before long, once I can make them on the wheel and then adorn them with vinyl. I should have bought more iridescent ones at Target yesterday, now that they’re 70% off, since people only like iridescent coffee mugs at Christmas time, apparently 🤷🏻‍♀️. 

Did you hit up any of the after Christmas sales? It’s the best time to buy wrapping paper for next year (or this year, if you haven’t had Christmas yet with your in-laws and you’re doing it tomorrow..just sayin’). While searching for all the decorations I wanted this year but was too cheap to buy, I found this cool WV emblem for Philip to build from tiny Lego-like pieces. He took this pic using my lightbox, and I gotta say, FoCo, the company that made this, should buy this as their stock photo because it’s much better than the one that’s on the box. 

Another cool gift I got from Philip was Yoga Joes; pink G.I. Joe characters striking yoga poses! 

They are going to sit on our TV stand and inspire me every day. I have resolved to commit more time to yoga in the new year and have several advanced poses that I intend to conquer. One of them is a headstand, like the one the Yoga Joe in the back center is doing. There are steps you can take to become better at balancing and holding it that I need to learn, because knowing is half the battle (see what I did there?)

Now you’re all caught up on my December craft news so it’s time for some Sansa pictures. You’ve been missing them, I know. 

using me as her personal pillow 

I get way too much enjoyment from taking pictures of her when she’s sleeping funny, which happens every day 😆. 

Talk to you guys next year! 🙄🙄🙄 (That’s such a dad joke. Autocorrect tried to change it to “bad” joke and it wasn’t wrong). Happy new year to you all. Remember to set those SMART goals! 😉