Making Embellishments...

I'm still trucking away on my list of things to complete by April 15th... And wanted to show you a creative & cheap little embellishment I made for a project I'm working on today :] The idea was built off of Elsie's Clear Flower Embellishment tutorial from her first book :] For stiffness & to recycle, I used a clean milk jug for my flowers. Paint the edges like Elsie suggests & let dry. Punch a hole in each center, layer the flowers, and fastened them with a colored brad :] Attach them to your project with a piece of foam tape, glue dot, or put the brad thru the page before you divide the tails.

You can also use paper flowers in your layers :] Lots of ideas can come from this. Thanks Elsie!

The random winner is...

Thanks for entering the Little Giveaway everyone :] Sarah, please email me your mailing address and I'll pop it in the mail today :)

Dear You, Thank you so much for all the comments you leave! I read all of them and they encourage me so much and make me smile :) Thank you for all the love! Love Leigh-Anna Banana

The Weekend

This Willy's was our favorite car at World of Wheels yesterday :] Totally like seeing this in BIG :) I had 2 of those really good lemonades I'm obsessed with every summer :] And was drawn to all the aqua cars... Snapped this picture right before the battery died... but my glasses are done and PERFECT! Thanks so much babe!! :] And just a little dream I've been thinking about while I fall asleep at night...

New Hair! Flair! And AHHHHH!

Holly is even sweeter and better than I expected from her blog! We are totally real world friends now too :) I totally LOOOOOVE my new hair! THANKS SO MUCH Holly!! It's mainly a dark rich brown (Keith calls it "French Roast") with red bits underneath peeking out to say "Hello, I'm a fun girl" :] Afterwards, we went thrifting at Value Village... Gag on the fit of this dress on me, but we laughed so hard! We couldn't decide if the fabric hanging off the side of mine was for taming the bulls or a baby burp cloth ;) Burp is a funny word. Member this... Well, this morning I went in the porch to get something and a bird FLEW past me! I ducked, screamed and ran in the house. Nervously laughing/screaming, I yelled: "KEITH!!! THERE'S A BIRD IN THE PORCH!!!"... lol, he forgot the window open while he was spray painting my glasses last night...and it got in. What is it with me and the birds!? Lol! Note: I opened the door and the bird got out fine :] My glasses will be ready soon, can't wait to see again :] We're doing orange and yellow again, love it! Thanks Hunny! I think that's it :) Crafting today, World of Wheels Car Show tomorrow :] We've already had a dance party today, so the weekend is off to a good start :]

Totes Magotes

Keith & Me, Kody & Amanda (my brother and sister) went to the movies last night :) I Love You, Man... was so funny with so many good one liners ;) "Slappin da bass" and "Totes Magotes" were my fave ;) Then we went for wings and drinks at Smittys Wing night. I had my first beer ever. It'll be a nice summer drink after hard work at the cabin... but otherwise, I'll stick with Caesers and fruity drinks :) K, if you read my comments, there were some weird anonymous comments that were kinda getting me a bit freaked, lol. Someone was hitting on Keith, and it was blatent! lol. Figured out earlier this week, it was my brother leaving them. Dork! Holly's coming over today to hang and give me a new hairstyle :] Yay!!! Have a good Friday! LA :)

One of my little collections...and a little giveaway :]

Making buttons was one of my first craft projects I obsessed over as a teenager. I would cut stuff out, glue it onto an old ugly promo button, then seal it with packing tape. The big one in the middle is from back in the day ;) Member these Ashli??? Heeehehehehe ;) The rest are ones I've collected over time :) At Christmas, I bought these 2 little ones for you and forgot to do the giveaway :) So today, we'll have a GIVEAWAY! Enter your name and the name you wish you had. (like, My name is Leigh-Ann, but I wish my name was Jenny). And you get a Freckled Nest button too :) I'll pick a winner after the weekend :] Hi Talisha! (no link; she doesn't have a blog) Lol... Jamie emailed me this convo her and her friend Talisha had at lunch today. I blushed ;)

Jamie: I'm going to open my etsy soon. Leigh-Ann is doing my banner for it.

Talisha: Who is this Leigh-Ann you talk about? Jamie: She and I email all the time. She's so funny. She's the one from Canada. You know.. the one I'm going to Springfield to hang out with. You know..Freckled Nest. That's her.

Talisha: Oh my gosh! That's her??? I LOVE HER!!!! She's my soul sister. That day I commented on how I read her blog about all those movies and I love them all. I spent hours reading through her blog. I'm in love with her. I have a girl crush on her.

Jamie: LOL I call her my soul sister too. Well, you're welcome to go to Springfield with me and hang out with her.

Talisha: If I start my own blog, do you think she'll be my friend too?

Jamie: LOL

It looks like January again... more snow!

Rachelle of Use the Good China asked me to create a parisian style banner for her cooking & baking blog :] Together, we tweeked it to perfection and it's nice and light & pretty :] Check out Rachelle's blog... she's such a sweetie and shares stories and recipes (she's a culinary magician!) :] * This week, I'm working on Kris' Custom Album. Her family has spent the past two Christmases in Cancun, and she's ordered an album with the style of my KI Memories contest album :) Her pictures are so sunny and vibrant, it's making me crave summer even more! Happy Wednesday, the week is flying by! :]

the dishes dilhemma

I've become highly skilled at strategic stacking; we don't have a dishwasher and we both majorly dislike doing dishes in any quantity. Momma always says, "Leigh!Ann! If you do them every-day after supper, you won't have to do a weeks worth for an hour!"... and to that I say, Mom, it's more than a weeks worth, lol. I did a lot of dishes today, and to help pass the time, I put my laptop in the cupboard and watched MTV shows online. It was actually much more enjoyable :]

cuties in cuteland

I often talk about crafting with Keith... and people ask "What does he make?!" (I think they picture him girlin it up making stuff like I do). But he builds Model Cars :] Keith has always loved automobilia and as a teenager, he admired his Dad's [David] model car hobby and began building too. They call their style "Kit Bashing" and it sounds kinda sexy, hey? He's become very passionate & skilled at it and has grown a personal style thats won him a few awards including a Top 10 award last year in Minneapolis. Along with that, Keith is mentioned in a Model Car magazine this month and one of Dave's model cars was photographed and shown in the mag! Congrats Dave and Keith! :] We craft together almost every night... actually, we call it Crodeling (Crafting + Modeling). And our dining room has become our new studio :) Until recently, we shared the table on the left, sitting across from each other. But we were both feeling too crowded, so I redecorated this weekend, added and recovered an old workbench table for Keith and we now sit across from each like Oldschool Detectives :) Lovin it!

you never know...

unless you try ;) [In Lola's kennel; she was confused]

Bad Idea.

I wanted my hershey chocolate bar a little creamier today...

So I opened it a bit and put it in the microwave for ten seconds. Sparks were flying and I smelt burning. I let it the wrapper cool and still ate it. Radiation much? Ps. i love googles Hungry Catepillar image today... I love when people say "Google it". I say it so much.

Some of my favorite kind of inspiration for you

[the cover designs] (My mouth waters when I see the word Martian. All time favorite version of blue! Better in person) What are some of your favorites inspirations? PS> Sign-Ups for the RVA Craft Weekend have begun :)