16 NOT RESOLUTIONS for 2016

I don't like the whole concept of New Year's resolutions.  I mean, I get it.  I know that people see it as as a fresh start, a chance to be a different you.  To many people, they see the end of the calendar as a chance to be a new person.  It is as if everything that happened before now is gone.  What happened before January 1st, 2016, never happened.  It is the year 2016.  Blank slate.  New me.

It may be a fresh start but it isn't a start over.  This year I will not be making New Year's resolutions.
If I was, here is what they would be:

1. Have a clean house every night before I go to bed.
2. Read through my Bible in a year.
3. Run at least 20 miles a week so I can run a half marathon in under an hour in the half Ironman relay this May.
4. Drink only 2 Cokes a week.
5. Have both of my boys tucked in for the night by 8:30.

None of these resolutions individually are outside of the realm of possibility.  However, I am pretty sure that, to accomplish all of these, I would need to be 3 people, I think.  I may be able to do these for a couple months if I worked really hard at it.  But somewhere in the midst of resolving to make these happen, I will lose myself.  Something would have to give.  For all of these things to happen, I would have to let go of other things that I love-time with my boys, sleep, caffeine, confidence, reality, and sanity.

Instead, I resolve to see the new year in a different way.  For me, it will just be a turned page.  All that I have written before with my life is still there.  The mistakes I have made, the milestones I have reached, the people I have hurt, the people I have reached, the times I have been lazy, the times I have overcome, the good, the bad, and the ugly.  None of it went away.  It is not a new chapter either.  It is just the turn of a page.  Another new day.  So from my heart to yours, HAPPY NEW DAY, my friends!

Instead of resolutions, I have created goals.  My goals are within the realm of  possibility.  None of them say "every day no matter what."  They are not destinations to reach, but things to reach for.  There is no opportunity to be hard on myself, lose confidence in my abilities, or feel like a failure.  They are just things I would like to focus on as I move into the new year.  So here  goes!  This year I plan to...

1. Be more positive and content with the here and now.  Those of you who know me well, or have read my blog recently, know that I have desires to move my life in a different direction.  Instead of focusing on where I want to go, I want to focus on where I am.  I love my life, right here and now.  Truly, I do.  I have my family and that is all I need.  Sometimes I am so focused on the fact that I am not where I am going, that I forget how good I have it NOW.  I would like to be content with the place God has me, now, while I look forward to where I hope I can be down the road.
2. Read and reflect on AT LEAST one Bible verse a day.  I think that almost every year since I first accepted Christ into my life, I have made my "New Year's resolution" either to read the whole Bible in a year, or to have a "Quiet Time" every day.  It didn't take too long to fall short of that resolution, which led me to feel like a "bad Christian."  That  whole "bad Christian" stuff is a lie from the devil, but creating and failing in my "resolution" played a part in me believing it.  I plan on spending much more time in the Word than I did last year, but reflecting on one verse a  day at the  will do wonders for my spiritual walk.
3. Make prayer a priority.
4. Perform at least one intentional act of service per day for my family.
5. Spend quality time with each of my boys individually so they each feel wholly loved.
   
6. Read one new book and one old book to my boys every day.  We do a lot of reading in this house.  Shea loves to read books.  However, he memorizes books VERY QUICKLY and has favorites that he wants to read over  and over again.  After trying to make room for new toys after Christmas, I realized we have a TON of books that we have never read to the boys.  So I plan on reading a new book every day to the boys before reading a book they have heard hundreds of times.
7. Work on my areas of weakness-forgetfullness, lack of focus, distractability, and absent-mindedness.
8. Be more accepting of my shortcomings.  I have a bad habit of beating myself up when I make a mistake.  I am even critical of myself when I do things out of my control.  Sometimes my medications or epilepsy cause me to say the wrong words, or forget what I am doing or talking about.  When I feel my mistakes are affecting other people, I let it get to me much more than I should.  I need to learn to shake things off and move on.
9. Complete at least one custom creative project, and one personal creative project per month.  Recently, I have been doing so many custom projects that I have not been able to complete any of the ideas floating around in my head for either my family, my online store (that I have closed temporarily due to the abundance of custom orders), or myself.
10. Train to run the WHOLE half marathon running portion of my leg of the Half Ironman.  At one point of my life, running WAS my life.  But that feels like a whole lifetime ago.  I ran competitively all the way up through college.  However, running hasn't really been much a part of my life anymore since Shea was born.  At the beginning of this school year, I was asked to complete the running portion of a relay half marathon race.  It is taking place in May and  I am just now getting back into running.  I don't have any time goal, but I do want to aim for running the whole race.
11. Drink less Coke than last year.  I have never even TRIED to stop drinking Cokes.  I know there is no way I could do that.  I love me a good glass or  bottle of Coke...mmmmm.  But I know they are not good for me.  So this year, I plan to drink less Coke than I did last year.  
12. Be more  organized.  I just wrote a whole blog post about this.  Go read it if you feel like it.  I thought it was pretty exciting.
13. Document my accomplishments. I think writing down my accomplishments will make me feel more positive and confident and proud.  I am going to do so in Milo...don't know who Milo is?  Go see.
14. Take better pictures of my work.  Believe it or not, those who don't know me or haven't known me for long, I once had a photography business.  I was pretty good at it.  I loved it.  But now I love a lot of things much more than I love taking pictures.  But I know from experience that taking good pictures of the things that I make will make a huge difference in the amount of sales that I make.  I have been skipping this step and taking pictures with my phone because I am too excited to take the extra step of taking good pictures to show off what I make.  I just take a quick snap with my phone and post it.  And oftentimes I have to write below it that it is even cooler in person than in the picture, or the colors are different in person.  I know I could sell much more if I had high-quality pictures to show the products just as my clients will see them.  Like these pictures that Lorie took of some of my blankets that are still
15. Have one month where my profit from my creative endeavors equals at least half of my teaching salary.  This is quite a lofty goal.  But my last goal is how I am going to get there.
16. Increase social media presence.  Some of you may not like this idea.  Some of my friends and my family may be a little tired of seeing my blog posts and pictures and crocheted blankets and quilts.  I get it.  However, if you are, now would be a good time to unfriend me.  My feelings won't be hurt.  But count on more of it in the coming year.  I am not doing all of these posts to make myself look better or to show off.   If that is the way it is coming across, I am  sorry.  But this is all just what it will take to get me from where I am to where I want to be.  My dream is to be able to make my side job into my job-job.  To get there, I have to put myself out there as much as possible.  So please be patient with me.  If, on the other hand, you like what you see, share it with all of your Facebook friends.  Pin my pictures on Pinterest.  Re-tweet my tweets.  Tag people on my Instagram pictures.  Make me busy.   Here is what last year looked like and what I want this year to look like.  And as I said before, these aren't resolutions, just goals to aim for. 

• Pinterest was my biggest area of growth.  Without focusing on gaining Pinterest followers, I somehow have 4,000 Pinterest followers.  Let me get this straight.  This does not mean that many people like my work, just that they like what I am pinning (it probably helps that I have 7300 pins, oops, don't judge).  For that reason, please pin and re-pin the pictures that you like from my blog.  The more you pin, the more people see what I make.  
• My goal is to increase my followers from 4000 to 10,000 by the end of the year.
• Facebook is where I get the most blog traffic from.  Most of my posts are read because one of you clicked on the link on my Facebook page.  If you know someone who would like my post or something I made, share the link with them or tag them in the post.  The more the merrier.  My Scrap Stash Studio Facebook page is something I have neglected.  I will update it more frequently this year.  When I do, I hope to go from 82 page  likes to at least 500 this year.
• I really hope to focus a lot on my blog this year.  I love to write and share my life with family, friends, and strangers.  My goal (not my resolution) is to write at least 3 posts per week.  I hope somewhere along the way I learn how to monetize my blog, but that isn't a must.  
• Here is an overview of my blog this year.  This year I had 5,685 views of my blog.  I averaged 470 views a month.  
• Here are the numbers for my top 5 most read posts:
• Work-in-Progress Wednesday (285 views)- This post focused on my Mermaid Tails that have been very popular.  This was the post that was on my blog when I received the most traffic.  This happened after Ginger Wesson (who has a very popular You-Tube Channel), shared the Mermaid Tail that I made for her.  
• Fed Up Friday (278 views)-This post was about my thoughts and feelings regarding the United States supreme court decision to allow same-sex marriage.  It was written while I was pregnant with Patten and therefore very emotionally raw and unapologetic.
• Sometimes Life is a Pill (210 views)-This post was about my journey with epilepsy and my quest for medicine that worked for me.  It was a story of ups and downs and real life.  It also drew extra views because it was featured on National Seizure Disorder Foundation's website.
• To teachers, moms, and  my high school crazies (209 views)-This was a post about the realities of being a teacher and the realities of being a mom who is a teacher.  I wrote this in response to a post from a mom writing to her children's teachers.
• Life in the Strauss House (133 views)-This is just a post about life in the Strauss house.
• There are two common themes in the top five posts on my blog.  I connected with people.  And I was real.  I think that is what people are interested in reading.  So this year I plan to make connections and be real.

HAPPY NEW DAY, my friends!

What are your GOALS or RESOLUTIONS for 2016?

Work in progress Wednesday

Mermaid tails galore! Here is my progress over the past few nights.

From this....

...to this...

In my school club...now officially called Fiberworks Studio...we will be continuing our work on our rag rug. Unfortunately, we only get to meet once a month so it is slow going. But we are getting there slowly but surely.  During our quest, I realized the most time-consuming part of it is cutting the strips from the t-shirts. 

That being said I have an idea to shorten the process. If you are interested in making a rag rug, talk to me first. I have a top secret proposal for you.
Here is what we have so far.

I would love to hear about and see YOUR WIPS. :)

To-do List Tuesday

I am becoming a crocheting machine.  I love it!  Those mermaid tails are a big hit.  I have 5 adult mermaid tails to complete, all with their own unique look, color combination, and vibe.  The more tails I crochet, the more I enjoy putting a new spin on each one.  No two tails alike!

I also have a memory quilt in the works, like these I have made before.

I sponsor a club at my school that, until recently, has been called the "craft club."  But I teach high school and craft club sounds a bit elementary to me.  This is my first year doing this club but I am loving coming up with new projects to add to the list.  Our current project is a "rag rug."  It is much more time-consuming than I had anticipated.  Following the rag-rug project, I plan on moving into either sewing, crocheting, or cross-stitching depending on the interest level of the students.  I have been brainstorming new names for the club. Craft Club is now officially Fiberworks Studio! Sounds much more sophisticated if I do say so myself.

Our finished rag rug will be sold to help pay for a field trip next semester as well as materials for our next project. 

Unfortunately, I do not have a picture to post, but I will take one ASAP.

WIP (Work in Progress) Wednesday

I have just completed and sent out one adult mermaid tail, two t-shirt quilts, and one crocheted Cabbage Patch Kid hat.

The mermaid tail was ordered by a You-tube sensation, Ginger Wesson.  She has a You-tube channel called "As Told by Ginger."  Check it out and subscribe.  She has 33,368 subscribers.  How about you make that 33,369?  Some of her videos have been viewed up to 25,000 times!  Her videos include makeup tutorials, vlogs about her life, question and answer sessions, silly stories, and my favorite-Harry Potter and Disney fan videos.  She also does product reviews.  She said if she likes my mermaid tail, she will do a video review for it.  How exciting!  Fingers crossed that she loves it!  Her mermaid tail is two strands of yarn woven together in alternating colors.  I made it by doing my own modifications to the pattern found at this link on Mad Hooker Crochet's blog.  Thanks Shelly Bunyard!

Message me on Facebook or email me at scrapstashstudio@gmail.com if you are interested in ordering one for yourself.  Prices for a baby tails start at $50, child start at $80, and adult start at $100.

The t-shirt quilt was made in the "rag quilt style."  It was made as a surprise for a woman's husband.  He is a car and motorcycle enthusiast.  His wife also threw his sheets from when he was a little boy into the mix...so we have Snoopy...

motorsports...

auto racing...

and cars, all thrown into the mix to create this...

The second t-shirt quilt was for my uncle.  His parents both passed away earlier this year, and both battled cancer.  This was an "in-memory" quilt.  It included numerous American Cancer Society shirts.

 

The back of the quilt even had shirts with pockets.  I love how it turned out.  He loved it, too.  He said it brought back lots of memories.

T-shirt (onsie, sheets, blankets, etc.) quilts start at $80 for a baby blanket and $100 for an adult blanket.  Prices are based on the number of shirts, style of quilt, and amount of additional material needed.  Message me for price inquiry.

And last, but not least, I have the Cabbage Patch crochet hat.  It was made using a free hat pattern found at Repeat Crafter Me.  Thanks, Sarah.  I can't wait to see it on the little one in her Halloween pictures.

Now on to my current projects.  I am in the middle of making a blue, gray, and white full-size zig-zag crochet blanket for a friend.  It is sitting in the passenger seat of my car and I work on it in the car on the way to school.  My husband and I carpool.  Don't worry.  I don't crochet while driving.

Last night I got started on my next t-shirt quilt.  It will be a graduation gift from a mother to her son.  It is all of his old wrestling shirts.  It is an extra special project for me because it reminds me of the quilt my mom had made for me as my high school graduation gift.  It included shirts from my high school running days, back when I was winning races.  The fun part of this project for me is embroidering on his "tournament champion" labels.  His quilt will be quite a display of talent, hard work, and success.  The finished product will be like a trophy he can cuddle up in.

The first step of the process included cutting all of the shirts in half and cutting off the sleeves.  I did this for about 40 shirts, many of them having images or words on both the front and the back.  From these 40 or so shirts, I cut 60 squares to use in the quilt.  Between the tshirt squares on the front and the ones on the back, I will sandwich a square of flannel.  So I also cut 30 squares of flannel.  That's a total of 90 squares for the quilt.  Step one of the quilt...done.

Next I will sew the "sandwiches" together...the front quilt square, the flannel square, and the back quilt square...
Then sew the "sandwiches into rows then columns...
Then snip the raw edges of each square every quarter inch or so to create the rag effect...

Then throw it in the wash on a gentle cycle...

Then toss it in the dryer on tumble, making sure to empty the lint from the machine every few minutes.  There will be lots of it. 
Then I will fold it up all pretty and present it to this wrestler mom to give to her son for Christmas.
It will continue to produce lint with every wash for the next few washings, making the edges fray more and more.  That's just what rag quilts do.  When the edges are all puffy, it will no longer fray each time it is washed.

Off to work on the crochet blanket tonight on the couch while watching some playoff baseball with the hubby.