Fall Time Wreath Makin...Y'all

So recently, I have had the uncontrollable urge to make fall/ Halloween wreaths.
I think this came from my Fall decoration shopping.  Let me tell you how that went...
Walk into Jo-Ann's...see a super cute (but fake) candy corn wreath... look at price tag $28.99..immediately walk away... mutter the word "shenanigans".  See another cute wreath...this one has burlap (looking) material on it...look at price tag...$32.99...walk away faster and mutter the letters "WTF".  Leave store frustrated, go home and google "DIY fall wreaths" and "candy corn wreath" get ideas...raid the Mister Mr's grandmothers basement (crazy stockpile of wreath things and material)...sneak mass amounts of wreath making materials out of her house (Grandpa said do it...grandma acted like she was going to go downstairs and make a wreath for everyday of the year...lies) and go crazy!!! I made cute wreaths for my mom and sisters birthdays as well. It's a lesson folks...look at everything you think about buying and say "Psh, I bet I could make that for way cheaper" cause usually you can! This will be long but it's full of pics so at least it's exciting!

:: Candy Corn Wreath ::

wrap an entire Styrofoam wreath circle with black create paper

Start hot gluing your candy corn (don't get crazy with the glue cause it will show)

Please excuse some of the half eaten appearing ones, apparently the dollar store doesn't treat bags of candy corn with care...??

Keep lining them in a circle, then overlap a couple layers after you have done some rows side by side (to hide some of the black paper)

Ta-freakin-da!! Slap a Halloween ribbon on and call it good!

:: Wreaths for my Momma and Sista ::

Take a regular grape vine wreath ($3.50 at wal mart)

Cut vertical strips from your fabric (get remnant fabric at Jo-Ann's, 50% off!) Wrap around wreath and hot glue (make sure the ugly part of fabric is what you glue to the back)

Keep Wrapping your wreath with fabric

the end fabric wrapping result

(please excuse crappy iPhone pic- it was late and I was too lazy to get the big kid camera)

then I took some more remnant fabric-cut it, folded it in half and glued on wreath over other fabric

like so

for the other wreath I decided to do burlap ($4.99 for the roll-has like 9 ft on it at Michael's) cut and fold in half (same as orange material)

like so

 The wreaths sat there for a day or two while I tried to collect my creative thoughts- then I decided to go to my friend Tiffany's house for a craft night and have her help me finish them.

These are our end results (and when I say "our" I mean "her", cause that girl took off like a bullet!)

yep- we made those fabric flowers (that straw was a pain! it was everywhere)

the "orange" wreath (my mom took this one)

those red beads were also a pain

The burlap wreath (my sister took this one)

:: My Wreath ::

It's smaller than the others

:: My button box ::

I got really sick of having my buttons scattered everywhere so I recycled a pickle jar, now my buttons smell pickle-ish but I LOVE pickles so it's all good

Wrap and glue baby!

slap a button on top for looks

:: Everyday decor wreath ::

Mister Mr's Grandma gave my MIL this crazy wreath, bird, wicker thing to sell at a yard sale

I saw the potential and turned it into something to fill a blank spot on our living room wall

this "before" seriously does NOT EVEN BEGIN to show you what was going on

I was so excited to use it that I started pulling out the birds, cranberries, greenery, and bird houses (yes there was a bird house on the wreath) before I took a good pic. But I left the green wicker looking thing on for your viewing pleasure.

BAM! Spray paint, ribbon and nail.

The layout with the hanging ball, and mirror is a little funky.  Mister Mr doesn't like the "empty space" inside the wreath but I like it. Again, at this point it was probably 11:30 pm and I had to get up in six and a half hours and was too lazy to get the big kid camera. Still thinking about where it is but it looks much better than before. 

Maybe I will get another wild hair and make something else fall ish- Fall is my favorite season!...well the whole two weeks we get of it in Utah. Stupid Utah weather!  



Slack-Town population: Me

Yep, that's me. Slackerville USA.  I can't believe I give other people such crap for not
updating their blogs when I have been terrible lately. Let's get y'all up to speed shall we?
The Mister Mr. and his job hunts-  He heard about, applied, interviewed and got a job at a scrapbook company called " We R Memory Keepers". All this happened in one week. One week...seriously.
He is only working there part-time right now and still working his other job part-time as well.  He has had three, yes count them, THREE interviews with apple.  So that's positive right? They told him that they are really interested in him for the part of "creative"- which would be him being nerdy and teaching people all about their fine apple products.  We have not heard back from the Apple yet because on the 4th they announced the new iPhone specs and yesterday the 5th....

this man died. Woah. Sad face. Steve Jobs- the main man of apple.  The genius behind it all.  The Mister Mr's nerd man god.  So I imagine apple has been fairly busy and the company is still working on who their new employees will be.
 R.I.P Mr. Jobs, thanks for making all my hubby's dreams come true. Hopefully he will be the next you.

 I have been making wreaths and getting excited for fall.

too bad we live in Utah. We only get a day or two of fall before the nasty white stuff comes and ruins my dreams of jumping into fall leaves and taking gorgeous pictures in the mountains (shakes fist in air at the thought of winter) My sister finished chemo (Woot woot) she will start her five weeks of radiation soon. She is such a rock through all this.  There are days you can tell she just does not feel good and just wants to rest and sleep.  But when she feels good she is doing her normal things and being her anal Annie self- she is just like my mom and does not understand the concept of " Rest, just relax and take your time to heal" nope. They are the women that can't sit still because they are thinking about all the things they could be doing with their house, yard or kids.  Just being good moms basically.  Speaking of those two wonderful women ( my mom and my sister) they have birthdays this month! Mom on the 2nd and Jodie on the 9th- so HAPPY FREAKING BIRTHDAY TO THE MOST AMAZING WOMEN IN MY LIFE!!!!

Nothing too crazy exciting happening for me personally, school is going ok.  I really like my teacher and have made a really good friend in class.  We have our first big test on the 18th- wish me luck! That damn X Ray tube is a lot harder to move around than you would think! so naturally our first test is on "positioning the patient and moving the tube, upper extremity"
I have been thinking a lot about career and life lately.  Watching my doctor I work with, seeing how he tries to balance being a good physician and good father and husband wears me out.  He is an AMAZING doc- don't get me wrong but the other day when his wife (who is also a physician) wanted to go to lunch he was seriously debating it because he had "so much work to do".  After much of my persuading they did attempt to go to lunch but couldn't find a parking spot right away so they decided to scrap it because they both had meetings and patients to get back to.  I thought is this any way to live? Having to squish in quality time with your significant other?  telling you child that they will just have to wait at the school until you are finished with your last patient and can pick them up?....an hour and a half later.  Not getting a full nights sleep because you wake up at 4 am and type patient notes? This all works for him and his wife and children but I don't think it would work for me.  If this cancer BS has taught me anything it's that life is precious, people in your life are precious, and time spent with them, laughing, crying and growing with them is THE most wonderful part of life.  You never know what tomorrow will bring, you never know who will get sick, you never know if that one event you didn't attend for someone meant more to them than a thousand phone calls from you.  Being successful and having a great career (especially one where you help people) is amazing! Being able to stick a small needle into someones neck and then be able to tell them if they have cancer or not is an incredible talent! One I would never be able to do as successfully for so many years.

......But for me? Family, loved ones, friends, a nice, comfortable roof over your head are what is most important. People are too caught up (myself included) in this whole idea that you need to have every cool new electronic, make tons of money, drive fancy cars and have a huge house that you pay someone else to clean. Let's all just be happy mmmkay? let's just be grateful for everything we have earned, if we do more? great! if we don't? if we just live life the way we want, raise kids, make wreaths, and drive Mazda's instead of a Lexus? Even better. As long as we have each other and those we love are healthy- 

"this could really be a good life"