Ah, The Joys Of Military Life

We are currently waiting to hear if we will be moving soon. My husband is due to resign his contract in January. We were hoping for him to be able to switch jobs because he doesn't like his current one, but that fell through. Now we are hoping we at least get a Base of Preference for first term airmen. We were supposed to find out in 1-4 weeks, it has been 2 and I've been trying so hard not to get impatient!

If we get what we are really hoping for, we will go to Whiteman in Missouri. Who wants to go there, you ask? Us! My family is just an hour away and we would love to be so close.

We are hoping for Lewis/McChord in Washington if we don't get Missouri, though. My sister in law lives up there and it is beautiful.. so I have heard!

Anyone else military associated? If you are looking for off base housing, be sure to check out AHRN.com which is recommended by the housing office. It lets you look at individual properties (apartments, houses, trailers, etc) and sort by price or bedrooms. It is a really great resource. Also be sure to check out http://militarywom.com/ and leave a review of your current area and see if any have been left for your new area. They have doctor referrals on there and neighborhood reviews and such on there. It's a great idea, I know I see a lot of support sites with people having questions about housing and the areas on base.

Are you looking for a support page on facebook? Be sure to check out www.facebook.com/AirmanSwag. It is a great page full of some wonderful women. They have a little something for everyone. Besides being a vast array of knowledge from (mostly) spouses on housing or situations you cant just ask your average friend, they also hold debate night on Tuesdays which is my favorite night of the week!

For the saucier women, there is a private group you can join and have XXX discussions. On Wednesday, the admins come up with a bunch of questions and all the girls gossip about their sex lives. This is not for everyone, which is why it is kept in a private group. They do everything they can to ensure privacy.
Swag also hosts beauty night on Thursdays to share lots of beauty tips.

I really love the diversity on the page, there are girlfriends, wives, and fiances ranging from around 18-40. They accept every branch and age and it is great knowing so much knowledge and advice can be found in one place.

Do you have any other great support sites you would like to share? Here's two more that I frequent, but they are a little too populated for me to feel like I know people

https://www.facebook.com/mistresstothemilitary
https://www.facebook.com/WeDoItMilitaryStyle

And, I leave you with a picture from my wedding day!

Learning how to use Gimp2

Anyone interested in learning how to make this?

or this?

I just learned this tutorial the other day and am excited to share it with you. I've been wanting to learn how to do this forever!

I just did a google search for the Air Force logo and the texture, here I used ACU and on the one I'm using to demonstrate I did a search for fabrics and liked this one. I actually edited the Air Force logo a while ago to have the heart in the middle because I think it's cute.

How to:

Open Gimp and place both pictures by clicking 'Open as Layers...'

Put the Air Force logo as the top layer. in the layer box on the right, right click and go down to 'Alpha to Selection'

Right click on the logo, go to select, and invert.

Next, highlight the texture layer. (I had to duplicate the layer to make it big enough to cover the whole logo.) Right click 'edit' and 'cut'

You will now want to delete the original logo and you will see the logo cut out of the material.

If you are wanting this in the forground, you will need one more step to make sure that the background of this layer is invisible. Right click on the image, go down to 'colors' and 'color to alpha'. When the new window comes up, click ok. You are set!

I hope you guys like this tutorial, I really enjoyed making these images, I wish I had more things to make!

Poinsettias made from books!

These are pretty easy, you could do them with your kids! I did mine on my own though, http://pinterest.com/pin/84724036709564408/ this was my original inspiration. The pin takes you to the blog but not the right page... Her blog is great, she has some real talent!


Step one: Paint swatches on your pieces of paper

Step two: Fold your pieces in half on each swatch and cut out the leaf shape. I used zig zag scissors because I couldnt find my regular ones, but I like the look even better!

Step three: Glue the petals together. Start with the two and glue them end to end. Glue the next two end to end and then on top of the first two.

Step four: Throw some glue in the middle and put on some rhinestones! If you dont want rhinestones, you can use a hole punch and punch out some yellow circles for the middle.

A few of my favorite quotes!

Garth is my favorite singer. I've been listening to him since I was born, he has so many great things to say!

It's almost Christmas!

How about a few ideas for ornaments?!

We dont have enough money to go out and buy a ot of great ornaments, so this year, I bought a 4 pack of clear glass balls to do something with! I'll only include the tutorial for the blue one because the others are self explanatory.

These were all so easy to make, and I think they look great on my tree! (the pink and green one was a custom order for a customer)

The blue ball is just ribbon wrapped on the ball! I started by gluing the end of the ribbon and just making sure I wrapped in a neat manner going diagonally. I just bought a button at walmart and put it on the end of the ribbon which I intentionally placed int he middle of the ornament! How easy is that?!

Updating!

Well I think I'm going to start updating my blog again. I wasnt sure if I was going to stick with it but maybe I will if I dont do so many tutorials every week! I'm still not sure what I want this blog to be about, but prepare for something!

Today I'm going to talk about my struggle to get back into college. I'm kind of frustrated. I decided not to go right after high school, instead I got married and moved halfway across the country to be with my husband who is in the Air Force. The summer after we moved I took two classes at the local community college and didnt re-enroll the next semester. I finally decided to go back last December but didnt get all my transcripts, etc turned in. So I decided I would go this January. Little did I know that you have to talk to a councilor more than 4 weeks before classes start to for sure be eligible for student aid. So I have decided to wait until next semester and then I am definitely going.

I am really wanting to learn graphic design. I took a class for it in high school and really liked it. I like to make lots of little things and am not an expert with my hand. I enjoy drawing but dont really have the patience for it.

I think I'm going to do a tutorial for Gimp that I just learned yesterday. I am so excited! I created this image with it. (Call me an OSMW, I dont care!)

Newest artwork!

This is the newest thing I have made to put in my living room. I really need to have a better design in here, I am so tired of mismatched dollar store photos and and splatter paint. This is getting me well on my way. I've got it hanging next to my book wreath in a previous post, I really like it!

I'm also getting a new picture frame from craigslist, I think I'm going to paint it yellow and put a pretty design behind it or something like that. I'm really excited! Now I just need to figure out what to do with the rest of the walls in my living room!