New Sewing Machine

I have never sewed a stitch in my life, but I've fallen in love with Pinterest tutorials and bloggers I've been following. So when Black Friday rolled around, I decided to pick up this cutie for $50!

For some strange reason, I decided to wait until after my grandmother had left town to try and figure it out. I got my thread and new Amy Butler fabric and was ready to get going. I read the first few pages of the manual that detailed and diagrammed each part. I knew each and every knob and lever on that machine. Ready to thread it, I tried to follow the precise step-by-step instructions.

Let me just tell you now, it was so crazy! I was feeding the thread in all kinds of wrong spots and couldn't follow the simple diagrams. About an hour in, I got to the point where I was almost positive it would work. It had to after all the work I put into it.

I don't have a clue what happened but in multiple tries, I had either excess thread or absolutely no thread in areas. In the simplest way of putting it, I learned how to punch teeny tiny holes into paper. In the end, I gave up and decided to watch Horrible Bosses with a big plate of brownies. I shall learn one day soon though, I swear!

Black Friday Finds!

Can we please all agree that Black Friday is one of the most fantastic days of the year? If you're not getting trampled, pepper sprayed, or cursed at, it can be a pretty fun experience!

Boyfriend and I went this year, and we decided to start at WalMart for their 10pm sale on Thanksgiving. We get there around 7 and some employees have no choice but to let people in their prohibited sale sections. We end up getting most of the things on our list by 8! And the people were just so nice! While waiting for the last few displays to open, I actually made pacts with a few strangers I met. And it worked. I found things for them and they found things for me. Even boyfriend got to speak to a few of the other reluctant males. I'm not used to that in my Ohio Black Friday experiences.

My favorite finds from WalMart? A sewing machine (I've never sewed a stitch in my life), a griddle, a waffle maker, and Big Bang Theory Season 4 (not just grown up things!).

Around 11:00 we made our way to Target, the most disorganized organization I've ever seen! They decide around 11:30 to start letting groups of about 50 people in at a time. Seeing how we're at the back of the line, it was pretty horrid. We had to wait a half hour after the doors were actually open to get in the store! Once we were in the store, there were forced paths leading you through the busiest parts of the store, and I finally just had to break it. I snuck off in the madness that was toys and found my way to DVDs for Modern Family seasons 1 and 2. (There were no blu rays on sale!) Electronics were blocked off and people were waiting in a ridiculous line just to get in and we just figured it wasn't worth it.

I ended up finding a really cute plaid shirt I've wanted for awhile now and a "Grandpa cardigan." By far the cutest sweater I've ever owned.

I made a few other small crafty runs this morning. I got some fun fabrics, a cricut cartridge for $25, 10 canvases, scrapbooking storage, all kinds of things! Absolutely beautiful deals.

Now that I've got my sewing machine and a few things to experiment on, I can only hope for more fun and more frequent posts for yall! I hope yall keep checking in regularly and have a fantastic rest of the holiday weekend. :)

DIY Christmas Ornaments

Oh my goodness bloggers. I had the most fun ever making these fun crafts I saw on Pinterest.

Here is my finished result:

A DIY tutorial to come soon.

OR you can check out mine here:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/85954640/scrabble-ornaments-set-of-3

Christmas in October

Yes, I'm slightly late on posting this, especially since this shindig went down a week ago. Essentially, I love Christmas. I listen to Christmas music 3 months early, buy everyone's presents months in advance, and wish for snow all year long. Since these things tend to get silly looks when I do it alone, my family offered to help this year! We sat down Saturday night (yes, before Halloween), made cookies, turned on Elf, got the hot chocolate going, and decorated our Christmas tree!

Here's all my pretty ornaments I got 90% off last year at Target!

Here's my sister and our delicious cookies:

Here's boyfriend and I faking it for the picture, as always:

Here's my dad and I posing like Superman in front of the tree. We're kinda dorks.

My entire family:

And the finished, beautiful tree (that I got for $10!):

And the sad thing is, we probably won't take it down until far often New Year's. It's just hard not to love Christmas! Anyone else who just can't wait through Halloween for Christmas spirit?