I can't stop making them......

I've been making these cute little clutches whenever i have a spare 30 minutes. They are so fun and easy to make, but my favorite thing has been thinking up and making the embellishments. How cute are the ruffle and flower on this one?
This one makes me think of a Spanish flamenco dancer for some reason.This is the other style I've been making. It's a foldover style clutch, but it has so many other uses. The bold graphic cowboy print caught my eye and I though a few cute yo-yos would finish it off.
This is a leather fold over in a crocodile print with a tassel and fun flowered lining.This is my favorite fabric by far- clean, bright, and fresh colors.
What do you think?

Catagories on Blogger...

I'm not sure if this is the best way to organize a blog, but for one like mine it works fine. I don't have that many catagories, and in all essences, this is a personal blog.

So, to create catagories:

Go to layout>on your layout of your blog go to 'add a gadget' wherever you want your catagories spot. I wanted mine on the top left to make it easy to see and select.

When you click on add a gadget, a window will pop up> select 'labels' gadget.

Enter a title. When I first did this I added a title for each catagory, and it was all messed up. This should be a very broad title encapsulating all the catagories, like: Find me here, Search my blog, or All my topics. something like that.

Select all labels, alphabetically, list, show number of posts per label. at least, this is what I chose based on my preferences. You can do what suits you.
And your done! Now, you won't see anything on your blog until you start labelling your posts, then it will pop right up and file everything for you, which is so great!

If you, like me, are formatting after you have already started blogging and haven't labelled any of your posts, it's easy to go back and label old posts so that they get filed in the right catagory. This is boring though, so save it for a rainy day or late night boredom!

Go to Posting>Edit posts>select the edit button on a specific post>add your label to the bottom of thepost (in the box)>click on publish post.

This will repost in its original spot, but now it will be filed in your catagories.

So Easy!

Building a Header

Yay! I (sort of) figured out how to do catagories on the blog! I'm not totally sure if its the best way to organize posts on the blog, but I'm going to go with it for now.

I wanted to explain how I did the header to my blog and add the links to the posts I used. I know its not perfect, but its so much better than it was!

I googled how to add a header to my blog and got this tutorial. You might want to bookmark that blog- lots of awesome info!

I started by opening a free account in Picnik.com and uploaded pictures directly from my computer. When I was searching around the nets, one blogger said your header should represent you and what your blog is about, so I kept that in mind when I was choosing pictures.

I pretty much followed the steps in the tutorial above, but I didn't add the text in Picnik. They have great fonts to choose from, but I liked the ones I had in Photoshop better.

Its important to know the width and height of your blog header like she says. I didn't pay attention to that part and ending up fiddling endlessly. I kept it really simple: four pictures, spaced closely and with gently rounded edges. I saved it to my computer in my "My Pictures" folder as a jpeg.

Then I opened it up in Photoshop. If you don't have Photoshop, Gimp is a free online photo manipulation program that is really similar to Photoshop. Or you can add words in Picnik and keep it simple!
I googled how to add words to my pictures in Photoshop and got this tutorial. I made two lines of text, one with "Grit and Gumption" and the other with "discovering life in the dust and wind of Wyoming" .Then I saved the image to my computer in my "My Pictures" file as a jpeg.So! I opened up my blog dashboard, went to the design tab, clicked on the headers edit button, and a window opened up. I clicked 'add a picture from my computer, used 'browse' and opened up the jpeg of my header that I had saved in 'My Pictures'. I made sure I selected "instead of title and description" and then saved it. Bam! Done!

All these steps may seem complicated, but it is actually very very easy. And fun! Picnik is a great tool to make all sorts of fun things, and its free!

Second block of the month......

This is August's block for the block of the month quilting bee. It is supposed to be free form and a bit wonky, but I had a hard time with the looseness of this block. Not my favorite quilting method! I'm glad I tried it, but not a new love. Can't wait for September!

And do you like my new header? I'd like to post all the links I use to make changes to my blog once I figure out how to make catagories. This header was really easy to do by just following along some tutorials I found on the nets. I used Picnik and Photoshop. You know, trolling around reading my favorite blogs really made me feel like I should be trying to make money or have some sort of blog business or at least make money from the craft crap I make. It was really getting me down! Once I let go of that expectation, and let this just be a little hobby I do cause I like it, then the motivation to make it better came right to me. Crazy right? Anyways, I had fun learning how to make that new header and love the new look.

Suffering is a part of life....

I talked to my sister H the other day, and she said something to me that has been simmering in my mind every day since then. Our conversation was about going through really difficult things in our lives. This is what she (paraphrased) said:

"More and more I realize suffering is a part of life. It just is. But so is the gift of beauty, especially where you live. (Wyoming) I think of you out there, riding your horse through the fields, and beauty is all around you. You just have to accept it as God's gift."

I've been mulling that over. How I walk sometimes so deeply in suffering, in a context of such overwhelming natural beauty. Its like the physical edge of a knife juxtaposed against the untouchable idea of majesty. Concrete against spirit. Flesh and hope.

I have been walking through the 'dark night of my soul' and just got the news yesterday that our friends' 18 year old boy was killed in a car accident. Just like that eternity walks all over us without even knocking or ringing the doorbell. There is no possible way to prepare yourself for something like that. It just seems like my life is sadness heaped apon sadness right now.

And then I went out to my horse, saddled her up and rode into light filled limitless beauty. Sun setting in a ring of razor edged mountains, spilling rays into grass that became gold. One foot in sheol and one foot on the mountain top. How long will I be asked to live like this by the One who knows exactly how I feel?

On a boy's mind.....

LB came up to me while I was on the computer. He leaned his head on my arm and participated in a little stream of consciousness started by a picture of oranges.
"Mom! I like oranges! and candy, and chocolate chips, and snowballs."

When I get bored...

I go to this site and imagine I have 10 wooded acres with good fences and a perfect creek, and all I have to do is pick out my classic english cottage to put on it.