Confessions of a Craft Slacker

We're almost halfway through September...two weeks into football season and well on our way to fall. Anybody want to take a guess at what my front porch looks like?!?

If you guessed all cutesied up for football season or decked out with pumpkins, hay bales, and scarecrows you would be SO wrong.
Nope, my front porch still looks like this:

Yep, the middle of September and my 4th of July decorations are still up! I have a few ideas of what to change out the flags for, but all you have to do is check out the title of this post to see why the stars and stripes are still flying proud on my front porch.

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Hi, my name is Kelli and I am a craft slacker!

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The sad thing is my front porch isn't the only place where my slacking is showing through. The back patio is looking pretty sad too after a few of my patio makeover elements gave out!

Do you remember my lovely Outdoor Toy Organizer? Well if you don't here's a little refresher...except don't look too closely because this is what it looks like now with sagging shelves and peeling paint.

Apparently my attempt to seal up a wooden shelf and make it outdoor proof failed....thank you very much in advance for not saying "I told you so"! I heard that enough from my hubby:)

And do you remember my old window turned outdoor wall art? Here's what it looked like before:

And here is what it looks like after a strong gust of wind snapped the wire it was hanging from and sent it crashing to the ground:

Obviously picture wire that is perfectly fine for indoor uses is not so great for things that are outside and might be moved by the wind!

And this just might be my worst confession of the day....do you remember this oh so pretty wall decor that I added to my kitchen back in April?

Yes it is Easter decor, and yes it is still hanging proudly on my kitchen wall. Okay, maybe not so proudly since we are closer to Christmas than we are last Easter...but at least it matches my walls:)

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I'm sure there are few more confessions that I could share with you...like my craft room that looks like it could be declared a disaster area or the rug I bought 5 months ago with plans to stencil that is still folded up on my bedroom floor...but instead, I would love to hear about some of your slacker ways! Is there anything around your house that you have been putting off? Do you need to join me at the next Craft Slacker Anonymous meeting?

Monday Morning Quarterback

...or maybe just Saturday morning PeeWee Football:)

We had a day FULL of football this Saturday. The day started with Grant's 9:00 am football game. His team played hard, scored a touchdown, but lost by a few points...mostly because the other team was WAY bigger than our team. One boys on the other team was probably as big as three of our boys put together! But the Golden Eagles held their ground and played hard anyway!

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After Grant's game, we came home to watch a little bit of college football on tv and eat some yummy pizza. Then we headed back to the football field for Henry's game that afternoon. Henry {#54} is the one in navy that is down on the line and ready to go. His team played hard and won their first game!

 Eli spent the day cheering in the stands! He says Henry and Grant are #1!

Did you watch any football this weekend?

Griddle Crayon Art

 I sure I'm not the only mom who stocks up school supplies when back to school season rolls around. As soon as I see the .25 and .40 cent crayons, I go a little crazy and start throwing tons of boxes in my cart....because who doesn't love getting 24 of something for so cheap! So when I get home with all my pretty boxes of nice, new, unbroken crayons, I have to figure out what to do with the old broken ones.I just can't throw them away, even though I only paid .40 cents for them and surely got my money's worth out of them last year! If you are looking for something to do with your old crayons, this is the perfect craft to make with your kiddos to keep those crayons out of the trash and add a little bit of fun decor to your fridge {or art clothesline/wall}!

 Start by peeling the paper off of your old crayons. This is a great task for the kiddos to do while you get everything else set up:)

 Next get out your griddle {or a hot plate would work too} and a box a aluminum foil.

Tear off a couple pieces of foil big enough to cover your griddle. This is to protect your griddle from stray/runaway crayons:) I used three pieces just to be safe, but if you are using heavy duty foil one piece is probably enough. After the griddle is covered with foil, turn your griddle on low to warm up. When you get started, you may need to adjust the heat up some just be sure to not make it too hot!

To make things easier, cut your paper to the same size as your griddle. The sides of the griddle will help keep the paper in place. You could also use a small piece of tape to keep the paper in place just be careful not to tear your foil when you remove the tape.

 Hand your kiddo the crayons...

 ...warn them not to touch the HOT griddle {and supervise them closely}...

 ...then let them create!

Eli had a blast gliding the crayons over the warm paper and we even managed to come away with a pretty cute work of art. We added a few stems and leaves, and turned his orange 'scribbles' into a pumpkin family perfect for fall decorating!