Craftiness at it's finest (4 months late)

I really stink at this whole blogging thing. I knew school would keep me busy but never realized exactly how busy. Luckily my body decided I had been working too hard and decided to get sick and stop working temporally which gave me time to lay in bed and stare at the ceiling. Or update this blog briefly with my random crafts in the year 2012 that I have yet to blog about. All of these crafts were made with the help of the ultimate crafter Brandie herself. 

My t-shirt Quilt

This, my 6x6 t-shirt quilt, was by far the greatest accomplishment of the year 2012 craft wise. I was determined to finish it before the end of 2012. I believe I finished like December 30th. Not a minute too soon. I LOVE IT! I sleep with it every single night. I love looking at the different t-shirts and remembering the good times and memories from each of them. Brandie helped me find the back fabric and how much batting to put in between and she graciously sewed the ribbon around it for me. It was a long process to make it but I am so glad that I did make it. One day after I graduate college I am going to make one for my little brother Jasson per his request when he saw mine. 

 This is what my living room looked like for several hours while I was cutting out the material. I used a 3-ring binder cover as my template for the size of my square.

 This was the layout before I sewed it together. 

 These two pics are the final product! Like I said it was quite the process and not the cheapest thing I have done but I am so glad I did it! I LOVE IT! Thanks to Brandie for helping me make it! 

My other random 2012 crafts

The rest of these pictures are just a few of the crafts I was able to make in between my Fall 2012 semester and my Spring 2012 semester. Again I must give credit where credit is due! The ultimate crafter helped me with all of these crafts. Enjoy :)

This was my old short sleeve wonder woman t-shirt 

that I made into a dress for Ms. Anna Claire!

 She loves it of course!!!

WONDER WOMAN!!!

Wendy loves to be matchy matchy so I decided to surprise her and Anna Claire with matching Christmas aprons. Anna loves to help her momma in the kitchen and Wendy loves that she loves to help. 

 Adorable no?

 They are making Santa's cookies here. 

That's chocolate dripping from AC's mouth :)

I saw on pinterest where you could make old t-shirts into workout shirts so I decided to do that with two of my old shirts that I didn't put on my t-shirt quilt. I gave one to my little cousin (the LSU) and kept the other one for myself. 

I will be donning the yes please shirt for the Crescent City Classic next weekend! I am very excited to beat my time of last year! Stay tuned for the update on my races in the Spring of 2013. I have done 2 so far. :)

I mustache you a question: Do you like this pillow case? 

I made this lovely pillowcase for my dear friend Becca as a Christmas gift! She moved to Utah in January and I miss her terribly. This pillow case for some reason was so hard for me to figure out! I actually made this and the exercise shirts by myself which was probably why it was so difficult but I enjoyed making it! There is nothing like working hard and seeing the final product! Definitely a sense of pride when you are done! I hope Becca is enjoying her mustache pillow case in Utah! 

WHEW!!!

I think that is all the pictures I have to share! I made three plastic grocery bag holders but for some reason I don't have a picture of any of them. Go figure! Oh well! They turned out cute. I have one more of those to make so perhaps when I finally get around to doing it I will have a picture of it to share with you. Thanks for making it through this very long post! 

Don't forget to:

GET YOUR CRAFT ON!

Playing CATCH UP to my RUNNING....

So I have totally done horrible at this whole blogging thing. I would like to say that I will do better in the future but I know that is not true. I have been busy with finishing up the Fall 2012 school seemster and taking a few end of the year trips. Before I begin to blog about my running/sewing I would like to toot my own horn by announcing that I got straight A's this semester! TOOT TOOT!! This was by far the hardest semester yet at school. However, I still have four more semesters to go :) I am elated to have made straight A's! I am excited for next semester to begin but I am welcoming my winter break with open arms. I was able to go to Vegas and California at the beginning of Decemeber! Thank you Champion Technology Services! My cousin Brandie's company always throws a Christmas party and this year it was in Vegas and they allowed her to bring one guest. Luckily that one guest was me! HOORAY! Tim, Ginny and Kaylor drove up to Vegas to hang with us for the weekend and then we drove back to Cali with them to stay a week. Let's just say the trip to Cali was quite eventful, full of laughter and Raising Cane's in one form or another ;). We went to Ikea, DISNEYLAND, California Adventure and celebrated Kaylor's 1st birthday with a good old Micky Mouse Birthday Bash! (Please see Picture This to see photos from her birthday bash.) While I was in California Tim, Ginny and I did Chino Valley's Reindeer Romp. Now begins my running updates:



September 22,2012 (Hammond, LA): I ran a 5K for my friend Wendy's dad George. He and I share the same birthday and for his birthday present he wanted us to join him in a 5K that his guard unit was participating in. Well pretty much the entire Barker/Coleman clan including George himself was unable to attend. However, I try to be a woman of my word and I ran the 5k as his birthday present. It was probably the most unorganized un-fun run I have done thus far. It started three hours late because they couldn't start the race without water and apparently the water supplier people were behind a wreck or something. I am not really sure of the details but needless to say by the time the race actually started I was over it and so not warmed up anymore. Not to mention my 30th birthday party was that evening. I can't remember exactly my time but it was around 35 mins. I am glad I was able to run it for George and hey I have a t-shirt to add to my collection for my t-shirt quilt that one day I will make. (Sorry I don't have pictures of this event)


Color Run November 17,2012 (UPDATE)

The Color Circle at the end!

I forgot to mention the color run I ran with my family (Mom, Sister, Brother in law, and Cousin) in New Orleans. My friends Beth and Becca were there as well but they went in the group ahead of us.  It was the first time the color run had come to New Orleans and it sold out within 2 weeks or something crazy like that. It was a huge success! There were so many people there. It was the first time for my mom, sister and brother in law to do a race. I am glad I got to do it with them. I think they enjoyed it :) Hopefully you will enjoy the pictures from it. We took a ton but here is a few.

My "Running" Attire

Becca and Me

My mommy and me!

The Family!

Beth, Me and Becca

Brandie and Me

Waiting to start...

A TON O' PEOPLE!

This happened alot. My poor sister..

The Blue

The Yellow

Reindeer Run November 30,2012 (Baton Rouge,LA): One my friends Jennie Kern told me about this race and of course was down for it. It was a night run in downtown Baton Rouge. They provide you with a long sleeve tshirt, reindeer antlers and jingle bells to tie on your shoelaces. I convinced my boss/friend Beth and her daughter (my friend), Becca to do it with me. Becca and I decided after some ideas back and forth with our friend Rebecca to make headbands with reindeer names on them. I was VIxen, Becca was Rudolph and Beth was Blitzen. It was fun to hear all the jingle bells while I was running before I put in my headphones to jam to music. I will say these two things about the race: It could have been mapped better because there were a ton of people who chose to cheat during the run because it was quite easy and two, I know that I most definitely need to listen to my heart rate monitor when I run. I may or may not have let my heart rate get to high and it wasn't a very good idea at all. I finished the race in 33.24. That is the fastest I have finished a race since I began my running this year. I hoped to be at 30 mins but like I said I let my heart rate get way to high which caused me not to do as well as I could have. I had a blast running the race though and that really is what it's all about. Here are a few pics from the occasion::

 Becca and Beth

Rudolph and Vixen

Reindeer Romp December 15,2012. (Chino Valley, CA): This is a 5k that I was lucky enough to do with my cousins Tim and Ginny while I was visiting them in California. Brandie stayed home and watched Kaylor for us. Thanks B! This race is the coldest one I have ran. The morning of the race we woke up to see snow on the mountains. Anybody who knows me even a little knows I don't function well in the snow. However, once I started running I warmed up fairly quickly. I finished this race in 35 mins. The lungs and high altitude didn't get a long. However, I am pleased with my time because of the difference in altitude and the fact that I had been sick earlier in the week. As you crossed the finish line you were presented with a bottle of water and cute little ornament that said Reindeer Romp Chino Vally 2012.  I enjoyed doing this with Tinny and look forward to many races to come. Here are some pics of the event below:

My view while running...

Clearly this is after the run back at the apt but we forgot to take one at the finish line! 

I have decided already that my goal for the year 2013 is to run a half marathon. My Uncle Victor and I have a little wager going on too. If I finish the race in under 3 hours I get $100! So needless to say I WILL be finsihing the half marathon in under 3 hours! I am really looking forward to the new challenge in my life and as always will do my best to keep you all informed of my progress. I have not yet found the half marathon I will participating in but I hope to choose one soon! Thanks for all your continuing support!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

THE Ultimate Crafter

So I have this amazing cousin/best friend. Many of you know her as Brandie but lately we just call her B for short or as of tonight I call her THE ULTIMATE CRAFTER! Seriously give this girl anything and she can sew it, make it, paint it, draw it, bake it etc.

This post is all about her craftiness in the last couple of weeks. She has been rather busy being crafty making birthday presents and things for people when asked. She made our cousin Ginny an amazing purse which unfortunately I do not have a picture of but trust me it's AMAZING! She made another purse tonight like it was nothing. Even when her sewing machine broke she finished sewing the purse by hand AND then helped me via phone and picture messages set up my brand new sewing machine. (post about that coming soon) She also made me some awesome birthday presents! That's not all though.

A few weeks ago I turned the ripe old age of 30 and not only did she make sure I had 30 presents to open the remaining 30 days of my twenties but she also made ALL the decorations for my Elmo party! Yes you read correctly this 30 year old had an elmo party and YES I LOVED IT!!! She and my other best friend Wendy Coleman threw it for me. My other awesome friend Beth Abel made the cute invites for it.
A lot of people donated gifts/letters (letters were unexpected and amazing) for my 30 presents!!  I truly am blessed to have such amazing people in my life! It was a GREAT way to start off my thirties. But I digress, back to the task at hand.

BRANDIE= THE ULTIMATE CRAFTER

The purse (made today):

The outside of the purse. She made this

one for a co-worker.

Man I wish I had a pic of the one she made for our cousin!

The inside of the purse. It has pockets 

AND

a key ring holder. AMAZING!

My handmade birthday gifts:

She made me this awesome plaque for me to hang all my running tags from

all my runs I have been doing this year.

This bad boy was one of the many gifts I got to open 

in the days leading up to my "dirty" Thirties!

Elmo Party Decorations:

My lil sis bought the balloon and Brandie made the sign:

This Elmo Party is being brought to you by the letters

L-E-E-S-A and 

the number 30!

HAHA Soo Clever she is. This is where the presents went.

She jokingly calls this the 30 year old Elmo.

I found the cake on pinterest and of course she made it  AND

it was delicious! There was none left over.

She HAND DREW these Elmo Party cups!

I LOVED THEM!

And check out these cute Elmo lanterns!

I mean really! ADORABLE!

The next pics are just random ones from my party. Family members who came 

and some presents I received as a result of everyone's awesomeness!

My reaction after realizing I had been given a Wii from my lissah,snuffy and momma!!

LOVE IT

My cool friend/boss Bethny! 

Oh yea! These believe it or not are all my Elmos. Except for two.

Those two are Anna Claire's :)

My brother in law: Snuffy. 

Please note;

 Snuffy Jr. is in the background to your right.

MY birthday buddy and hero! GRANDPA!! 

I am fortunate enough to share my birthday with this amazing man!

Anna LOVED pushing this guy around! 

My Little desk at work! My boss/friend Beth made

that HUGE Elmo face. I walked into work on my birthday

and Elmo was there to greet me!  I LOVE IT!

My fancy new bike! Thanks to all the amazing

family and friends for the Academy gift cards so

I could purchase A.J to ride to school

every day! I LOVE IT!

The post wouldn't complete without a picture 

of me kissing inanimate object!

and last but certainly not least! A picture of me with 

THE ULTIMATE CRAFTER herself:

BRANDIE!

These pics do not show nearly everything she has made. Seriously this woman amazes me on a daily basis! I really feel sorry for those who don't have a Brandie in their lives! She is probably like seriously Leesa you can stop being all gushy now but really she is amazing! I know her brother,sister n law and niece would agree with me!

B,YOU AMAZE US!  

P.S Thanks for being amazing!!!