Hey guys! Now that I have a small business, and am tyring to appear slightly more professional, and wish to make myself more easily found on the internet, I have started up a new blog! Find me at www.aimeejarnold.wordpress.com . I really loved the anonymity this blog provided me in relation to my real life, but the time has come to just be me for all to see. Hahahaha, I'm cracking myself up. My new blog will be geared more toward the creative side of my life, but I'm sure my whole life will peek through too. I hope that if you followed me here, you will head over and follow me at the new space. I know basically this is a personal invitation to my one reader (you know who you are!) but just know that I am super excited for my new space and content and you should be too!

it's been a while

Here's some of what I've been up to for the last few months! This Christmas season has been a great one so far, and my business is finally seeing a little growth, which is so encouraging.

This beautiful photo was taken by my amazing friend Katie Decker, she also took my family photos which are flipping awesome. I made the mermaid tail using a fellow crafter's pattern.

 

The basketball headband is one of a kind as far as I know. Gotta represent, GO CATS!

The Baby Necktie is a pattern I wrote myself, and you can find it here!

 

Buntings are so festive!

 

Camo Owls, perfect for deer season in Kentucky.

This Baby Shark photo prop is also a pattern I wrote myself! You can find it here.

 



Had to throw a picture of at least one of my kids in here!

I hope to be back in this space at least a little more regularly, but I'm sure it will be after the new year before I have time! On the other hand, I have plenty of time for Twitter and Facebook, so you can find me there instead for now! No, Really. I need more love on twitter. I only have, like, 7 followers. It's really sad. But totally fun.

Chain Four

It has been forever since I last posted, but I just had to share this! My crochet business Chain Four is really moving this summer! I finally have a facebook page and my website is sort of in the works (I have my domain, but it's going to be a while before it's up and running--hopefully before the end of the year!!) I am concentrating on children's accessories and photo props right now, with plans to add new items very often. Come "like" me on facebook!

 If there is anything I can crochet for you just let me know! I am just beginning to take orders in addition to selling at a couple local stores--Kentucky Soaps, and the Little Butterfly Bowtique--two really unique and beautiful stores in Stanford and Lancaster.

Let me know if you have any questions or orders. I am so excited about my business growing!

flowers for fun

After last weekend, I was worn out with painting! But today the mood struck, so I sketched some flowers and used some brighter colors than I got to use during beach week :) We had a very nice morning outside and are all playing quietly for rest time. (it doesn't always happen that way!)

(Lest you think my life looks idyllic, a mere 30 minutes after these photos were taken I was cleaning vomit up off the kitchen floor.)

In other news, it has been a good week at our house. We have been keeping the house pretty neat, and I have been organizing. Now if I can only keep the momentum up through the weekend! Here's hoping that basketball and fun and church searching don't leave the house in shambles by Monday!

mural completion

The mural is (mostly) complete!! What do you think? I didn't paint the birds but did paint the ocean and the trees. There is also a tiki hut in progress on the other side of the kitchen. I'll keep you updated on the progress:)

original artwork thursday

Still working on the beach mural... I dragged in an old piece of drywall to practice with acrylic paint on a larger scale. I think I'm going to be ready by this weekend to paint that mural! I'm really excited. This has challenged me to work outside my comfortable small watercolor zone and I'm glad for that.

original artwork thursday

I know it's Friday, but I don't want to abbreviate my title to O.A.F., so there you go!

This weekend I'm supposed to help my sister in law paint a beach themed mural in her kitchen, so I have been practicing. I hope it goes well! If it does I might post pictures. Hope your weekend is lovely!

happy new year

             A sweet little ditty for you guys. Cheers to the new year!

the kids

It had been a while since I showed off my kiddos, so here they are! Isaiah will be turning 7 tomorrow, as hard as that is to believe.

These guys are becoming more and more independent every day, and I am loving watching them grow up little by little.

snapshot

Here's a snapshot of my day

Crochet, reading (twilight again), laundry and internet. It's turning out to be a lovely laid-back Monday. Anybody have any books they read and reread for fun? I love series.

The ones I have enjoyed the most are:
The Troublesome Creek series by Jan Watson
The At Home in Mitford series by Jan Karon
The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan

Please share your favorite series or books with me!  I'll try not to feel too bad when you come back with classic literature  :)

i-mazing

No one told me having an iphone is like having an awesome mini computer! I knew there were apps, but I had no idea what I was missing! I am thoroughly enjoying my new toy.

 (gratuitous image of our chickens using my iphone with the hipstamatic app--which I love)

PS we got a great deal, as we were up to renew our contract. We got a huge discount, plus they were on sale. Hurray! I usually don't know what the newest technology is like until it has been out for 5-10 years and therefore no longer the newest technology...

let's play

Let's play catch up!

-This fall we participated in sports activities for the first time. Isaiah played football and it was a great experience all the way around. At first I thought it was just going to be us hauling him around for his enjoyment, but I have to say, it was great for him. Plus football is just fun to watch. Next comes basketball, which Isaiah and Lydia are going to start in a couple weeks. We're just trying to figure out what sports they are going to like by letting them try the ones they are interested in at least once while they are little. i don't know how we are going to do it when the littler ones get older! I don't know if we can be 4 places at one time...

(go #40!!)


-A major clean up of our filthy basement happened yesterday! I am so glad to be able to use that space for the first time since we moved in. I have no idea how long it had been since it was cleaned--probably many many years before we moved here. It still needs to be mopped again, and the ceiling needs some work, but I can now use it as sort of a pantry, and hopefully, one day, a root cellar of sorts.

(Inside the airtight barrel are extra dry goods like flour and sugar, popcorn and oatmeal.)


-I just took 10 hats and 5 headbands to myrtle's this past Saturday. I'm hoping they sell quickly so I can get some extra Christmas money! I would love to eventually directly sell on my own, but this works so well for me I will probably sell there for as long as I am able. At least this way I don't have to advertise and/or run a shop of any kind.





-My kids are candy crazy. Chloe and Toby had sweetarts and bottle caps before breakfast this morning. We have got to get rid of this Halloween stash!

-I am on a Harry Potter kick. We just found the movies at walmart for like $4 a piece so we snatched up the first 5. Still waiting on the 6th and 7th ones, although I had 7 part 1 for like 6 months from netflix. I just keep watching them over and over...

-It's so nice to finally be back! Hopefully it won't be so long next time :)

guest posting

Today I am happy to be guest posting for Annika at all the live long day while she is on vacation.

Go check out her awesome blog. I look forward to every post she has!

oringinal artwork thursday

One day I will learn photography and photo editing. This is not that day. Enjoy the artsiness:)

a random collection

Homeschool has begun for this year. Isaiah is in 1st grade and Lydia is in Kindergarten. One day down, 174 to go. This is a marshmallow igloo. Because it starts with the letter "i".

Check out this haul from our garden yesterday! Tomatoes, 2 baby bell peppers, 4 aji crystal peppers (hot peppers), a small watermelon and a bitty pumpkin. This was so exciting! The most I have brought in at one time yet! Oh! and Nathan brought in 16 eggs from the past 2 days!

I made a bunting! I have been wanting to make one forever, and finally just did it. I made a freehand cardboard triangle template, cut around that about 10 times on 5 different fabrics with my pinking shears. I pinned those inside double fold bias tape and then sewed on. I did not measure or iron anything! Myfavorite kind of sewing project, no measure, no iron, quick, straight line sewing that turned out super cute!

Hope you enjoyed this random collection from the past week!

garden update: 90% off

First, our local dollar store had some garden stuff 90% off! I got 9 (small) bags of this soil for 15 cents a bag.
Some seed starter trays for 40 cents each, the little trays on top for 30 cents each. Those on top include seeds and dirt.

Some herb garden kits for 60 cents each! One of them is planted and just sprouted by my window in the kitchen.

Some of my favorite flowers growing on my front porch.

Our two raised beds are doing just okay. The tomatoes are doing pretty well, and cucumbers, but the beans produced nothing. We are getting ready to pull everything out of the garden on the right to plant for the fall. We are planning to plant lettuces, spinach, carrots, and maybe cabbage.

Our corn grew really tall, but we got no edible corn. The chickens got a few ears and all the buckwheat that I harvested and raccoons got the rest. The buckwheat was so pretty we will definitely plant that again. We ate our first bell pepper last week and I canned 11 (almost 12) pints of crushed tomatoes last week. I don't know how much more I will get to can, but I hope to get at least that much more. I would love to do spaghetti sauce too, but the tomatoes are coming in sporadically, so we'll just see.

Our chickens started laying eggs about a a week and a half ago!!! I absolutely love having our own eggs again. They are still small, but hopefully we'll be getting them by the dozens soon enough. If each chicken lays one egg a day, we'll be getting a dozen a day!

If there was one thing we learned this year with our garden it was : PREPARE THE SOIL!! Even the raised beds could have used more compost or manure. Next year we'll know better. That is something I love about gardening, the learning and changing--how the mistakes are made okay with the knowledge gained from them.

Hope you guys have a happy Friday!

original artwork thursday

Finally picked up the paintbrush after a busy summer. I think I got a few good ones, and a few that are just okay. (I don't show you guys the bad ones!) There are more, but I'll save those for another week :) Let me know what you think!

2 years

As unbelievable as it was to me, my BABY turned 2 last month. We had birthday pancakes and a fun day at home on the day of, and then the weekend after we had a pool party at my sister-in-law's house. It was so much fun and so laid back.



The cake was really the only part of the party that involved any work, but it was so much fun! I had seen rainbow cakes on MckMama a while ago and wanted to give it a try. Then I had the idea to put a marshmallow rainbow on top. I think it turned out really cute!

The trick to a great tasting rainbow cake is putting vanilla pudding between the layers. I found that tip after a google search (can't remember where). It makes the cake really moist without so much icing between every layer.

Look how big she is! She loves to swim, ask questions, color, play with baby dolls, and wrestle and fight with her brothers and sister.

She wrinkles up her noses when she thinks something is funny. She wants to take baths all the time. She is so smart and funny! Her hair would forever hang in her face if I didn't put it up in a top-knot. She loves to make huge messes involving make-up, crayons and markers, and dumping out the first aid kit and emptying the medicine cabinet. (after first climbing up onto the bathroom counter, of course.) She can count to ten. Her favorite songs are twinkle, twinkle and happy birthday.

I sure do love this kid.