make something monday :: sneak peek
today I:
 |
| image via elgarboart |
♥ met a sweet friend for coffee and chatted about many wonderful topics of inspiration - hi Alisha!
♥ came home and found my boys playing memory with Dad while he folded laundry. He had fed Josie and put her down for a nap which lasted for almost three hours!
♥ Chris took the boys to Costco and other errands while I ate almond butter toast and surfed the web.
♥ drank my V8
♥ filled the candy jars on my piano with dove dark chocolate hearts and dark chocolate almond nugget
♥ candy was delivered this morning with groceries via AmazonFresh and an A-MAZING deal that Jenny alerted me to yesterday. Serious savings to be had if you live in the greater Seattle area and order by
♥ planned out our menu for next week
♥ left the chores for another day
♥ am going to pop some popcorn in our new fancy popcorn machine (thanks Mom) and watch Curious George goes to the doctor with my little family later on this evening. Simon added a bunch of movies to our Netflix queue because he is crazy and knows how to access that stuff...ever so often I let one come through the mail and the boys FREAK out when their movie appears it is so fun and hilarious.
♥ today has almost felt like a mini vacation, a gift to this tired Mama's heart!
so what about you, what did you do today?
an afternoon adventure
some cuties for a cozy coffee date or spontaneous shopping with a friend. oh how I remember the days where arranging for an afternoon adventure didn't require two baby sitters and just a whole lot of planning.
sweater, boots, jeans, purse..off to make some coffee at home and I am sure that will include an adventure here too!
deep breaths :: a tutu moment
Josie is finally getting into some of her 3-6 month clothes and I realized that the darling pink skirt my sister bought her was probably going to fit soon. When I decided to try it on her my mind flashed back to almost exactly a year ago and how I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that I would be putting a tutu on my daughter today. Last February when I found out I was pregnant and confessed that I really wanted a girl I was faced with a bit of opposition and criticism. I know that all we should really hope for as expectant Moms is a healthy little one and I am lucky to even have the opportunity to carry children but something deep inside me was aching so loudly that I could hardly bear it. I had no choice but to go to the Lord and plead with him, desperately tell him of the longing in my heart. Specifically. No beating around the bush, a true bear it all kind of intimacy with the Lord.
Truthfully I didn't believe he loved me enough to hear me but I was so so wrong. Today when I dressed Josie for the first time in such a girly little skirt my heart burst again with just how much God knows my heart and how it has taken me thirty years to begin to trust him with it. Of course my desires for a daughter have nil to do with the clothes I get to buy for her that is just icing on the cake. Nor does it mean that she doesn't come with a whole host of work and challenges (oh yes she did scream bloody murder per usual today in the car - just like every other time she has been in the car, my poor sweet boys rocking her car seat and desperately trying to give her the binky) but her presence in my life is a constant reminder of how deeply and intimately God wants to know me..why is it so easy to forget?
It seems that life is so much easier for me if I can be in control and I confess that I so often think just that - that I am actually in control. Today Jesus is reminding me to come running to him and tell him all the deep, specific things on my heart. He might not always answer me in the way that I ask but I do know that he loves me enough to listen and respond in his perfect way.
My life is so far from perfection, we have many hard things on the table right now. But today for a few minutes I let myself get lost in the truth that no matter what God Loves - he loves me, he desperately loves you and he wants to know, everything.
We named our girl Josie because it means Jehovah will increase, may he continue to increase my faith and trust in his perfect love. Thanks for letting me share the simple pleasures of a pink tutu friends I hope your evening is blessed! xoxo
and please excuse the incredibly dirty mirror picture - ha!
make something monday :: felt heart strings
I did a little crafting this weekend but nothing really worthy of a tutorial. Just some simple felt hearts in pink with spots of orange and yellow to hang over my marigold piano. A little dreaming about my valentines day display encouraged me to throw on a good girly movie and cut cut cut. I just slipped the hearts through my sewing machine to sting them together and now they are waiting for the perfect little moment to myself to get lost in decorating that corner of my home for the holiday.
It's another dreary day here in Seattle. My boys are in an after lunch time tub and their Sister is making herself known that she would like some lunch too. Not a lot planned for the rest of the day but maybe another cup of coffee some play dough and dinner making madness in a few hours but at least I don't have to get out of my sweats if I don't want to.
modern little ones
I came home this afternoon to the sweetest little package in my mailbox. My friend Catherine made Josie an adorable stroller blanket in green and orange with the softest polka dot chenille back. I absolutely love it!
Catherine is the owner and designer behind the label Modern Little Ones, a shop with all kinds of adorable things for baby's and little's..some really great stuff here folks. She is a busy Mom of twin girls and a self taught sewer who openly admits to having fallen in love with fabric in the past few years which has lead her to start her own business making wonderful things out of gorgeous fabrics. The quality really stands out and her prices are fabulous too!
I have had my eye on a few things in her shop for awhile now and am so excited to finally get my hands on one of her pieces. I thought it would be worth a mention here knowing that many of us are often on the lookout for great baby shower gifts and it is always much more fun to support handmade artist and to give something a little unique and original. Seriously I can not speak highly enough about Catherine and her products - if you are looking for something extra special for a little someone in your life please check out her shop you will not be disappointed!
Happy Thursday everyone, muster up a little smile tomorrow is Friday!!
chocolate♥love
make something monday :: fabric button earrings
Button earrings have become super popular in the past few years and I myself have had tons of fun making them. They have such a fun vintage feel that I just love and they are my favorite kind of project, quick easy and instantly gratifying. These are pretty self explanatory and certainly not original but I love the versatility that you have with fabric covered buttons and thought it could be fun to do a mini tutorial- just in time for valentine's day!
I keep a big jar of different sized button blanks on hand at all times. You can find them at almost any craft store in teeny tiny to really big sizes.
You just need:
some button blanks
fabric scraps
scissors
pliers
glue
earring posts
Basically you are going to follow the directions on the back of the package to make a fabric button. But the first time I made these I made a button and then attempted to rip off the shank portion so that I could successfully glue on the earring post. It seriously killed my hand and since I was making several pairs it just wasn't going to do. So what I suggest is taking some old pliers (maybe raid your husbands tool box if you don't have jewelry pliers) and grab the shank (third picture above). Give it a good squeeze and twist and you should be good to go, it will fall right on out. I like to take all of the shanks off first so that I can move on and play with fabric without going back but whatever you want to do obviously is fine.
Next your just going to follow the instructions on the package by cutting out two small circles and laying the fabric into the button mold thing. Just let the fabric naturally layer itself into the button and then snapped the back portion in with the blue press that is provided in your kit. Now all that is left to do is glue on the earring posts. I always use E600 for my jewelry projects but you could totally use hot glue as well. Another idea if you don't want to buy new earring posts you could totally use small earrings that you don't wear anymore and glue those onto the button just to save a little more money.
Let the glue dry and your done! Experiment with fabrics - I layered satin and lace on one pair and made a collection of valentine's day earrings.
The hounds tooth were my favorite pair today! Make these for all those teachers, grandmothers, girlfriends, girls in your life - it will make them smile I promise! You can also easily switch out thumb tacks or magnets instead of the earring posts for a fun little impromptu present. Really the skies the limit!
Enjoy!!
fun weekend!
We had such a full and busy weekend! And yesterday my baby sister and her boyfriend came over to tell us that they are ENGAGED!!! We are so excited and thrilled for them they seem incredibly happy. I don't think you could wipe the smiles off of these faces if you tried! Congratulations you two can't wait for this season of wedding planning and celebrating ahead!
*I will be back later on with my make something monday post - we have had such a fun holiday weekend and we are off to dinner - but I promise I have a super easy and fun project for you in a bit! xo
soon enough
Today was suppose to be a studio day for me. I had it all planned out - the boys with grandma and grandpa, lots of fresh ideas rolling around in my mind. But Chris and I started going through 'the stack' - do you have one of those too? You know the one that eats papers, sort of like when the dryer eats your socks only this pile can eat like important documents and bills. Yeah that stack. We started at 10am and ended up bringing up several baskets of papers and receipts that were in our basement. Bills dating back to 1998. We even decided to go for it and got out the filing cabinet and starting sorting that thing.
It was pretty insane and it's not done. We are both pretty committed to simplifying this year so I am so glad we started tackling it, it has to be done. Chris spent literally hours shredding papers. You don't believe me -
yeah it was wild.
Chris's folks bought us the freedom filer system for Christmas and it's our new task to implement it. We haven't officially started using it yet but it looks amazing just based on what I read and what they told us about it. We are so bad at this areas of our life. We definitely prefer the creative side over here so taking care of and getting a handle on the paperwork is hard work but feels good to dig in and work on
and there is always tomorrow, I hope to be able to find a few sweet moments to myself to let the creative juices run free after heavy focus on organization. We are also finishing up the first two weeks of our little sugar/carb detox and on Monday can have a tiny bit of dark chocolate. I will confess I love chocolate and am excited...I actually have taken to using my kids toothpaste the past week because it is so much sweeter and satisfies my sugar cravings. Totally weird and nasty or resourceful? I'll let you be the judge. Just keepin it real folks..
we are looking forward to a nice long weekend - I hope whatever you do it's amazing and inspired!
Before and After :: the Old Piano
 |
| BEFORE |
When I was little the story goes that one day my parents got a random call from my Grandmother, Marge. She lived in Oakland, CA. both of my parents grew up in California but had moved to Seattle the day after they were married and at the time were living in what I understand was a tiny little house up on Capitol Hill. The call came in to let them know that they were inheriting the old upright piano. My Mom said that she really didn't know where they could keep a piano in their small living space. My grandma said "it's for Becky, I am giving it to Becky" (I was called Becky when I was young)...they ended the call wondering how to handle the situation when literally not twenty minutes later a moving truck pulled up in front of the house with Becky's Piano. Oh boy, this baby has been through it all. Truly. I remember it inside for a few years but mostly it has gone from garage to storage unit to garage. It got pretty run down and I almost gave it a way once to a guy who said he'd give me $50 to take it off my hands. For some reason I couldn't do it. It is one of the only things Marge ever put my name on.
A few years back I got the hair-brained idea to paint it. Some of the wood veneer had pulled off and it had become an eye sore. Chris thought that sounded like a lot of work (mainly code for I think YOU should paint it for me :)) so it sat at least another winter in the garage.
For my birthday I told Chris that all I wanted was for us to spend a weekend together, no kids, eating cupcakes and takeout and working on the old piano. We were all set to go, kids at his folks house, cupcakes in the fridge, me about to burst at eight months pregnant - serious nesting was going on. Chris got super sick over my birthday weekend so the old piano project was postponed. But not to fear after our number three was born Chris got to work on it. It has been a looooong labor of love and still needs a few more touches but she is coming along. I chose marigold yellow...
What do you think?
 |
| AFTER |
I really love it! The right yellow is such a hard thing to pick and it is super dark in our front room so the color in the photo is a bit off. What you can't see are the turquoise blue ceilings. I think the combo of blue and yellow is my most favorite part.
I can't really speak to much about the process because Chris did ALL of the work on this one but he did tell me a few things to add here and a few cell phone pictures of his process:
First he cleaned it really well with TSP then taped off the areas that needed to be and sanded it all with a fine sandpaper. He cleaned it off really well at this point making sure there was no dust on it and began the tiring work of painting it. Between every coat he sanded it again to make it as smooth as possible. I think one thing he mentioned a few times was the paint that we purchased was not as high quality as we could have. If we ever do something like this again I think Benjamin Moore paint might be just a bit better even though it has a higher price tag. The cheaper paint tended to run after a bit making super frustrating drips even when he had carefully gone over spots meticulously.
After all of the painting and sanding coats were done (I think he did at least six) then he painted a polyurethane top coat over it to seal and give it a better protection from wear.
I definitely have been enjoying changing out the display on top since we don't have a proper mantel and I love doing seasonal displays. She is mighty pretty now and one of my favorite birthday gifts (I have another one to show you soon - it's to die for!) oh and to the left in the photo you might notice an adorable celery green fiberglass mid century inspired rocker. Yup I got that little guy under the Christmas tree but apparently Chris ordered it for me the first week of June as a birthday present (end of September) and it arrived two weeks before Christmas! Isn't he sweet!
Thanks Babe I love it all, and you are the best!! xoxo
miss dolly
Today Josie had a weight check - at three months she is a whopping 11lbs 4ounces, petite and sweet as can be! Loving getting to know my little girl more and more everyday!
make something monday :: pony silhouette hoodie
I have always loved horses, when I was a little girl I begged my parents for one. I was convinced our backyard was plenty big AND it was fenced so WHY couldn't I have one...
they decorated my room in horses for Christmas, I was only mildly disappointed that I didn't get the real thing..ha ha. I think most girls at some point fall in love with ponies.
Josie had two white hoodies the same size and so I decided to give one of them a little makeover this week. She needed a horsey sweatshirt with ruffles, what can I say ruffles and ponies you really can't go wrong?
for this project I used two coordinating pieces of fabric I believe they are both Heather Bailey but not entirely sure about the green polka dot. I downloaded an image of a horse head that I simply found through googling "horse head" - seriously I googled that. After printing it out on card stock and cutting out the silhouette I got out my trusty wonder under and followed the instructions to make two separate iron on designs. The oval and the horse. I then ironed them both on starting with the oval. This stuff is seriously so cool I could play with wonder under all day! I added the horse head right on top of the oval and then used my sewing machine to stitch around the outside of each shape to reinforce it. Pretty much took me all of like twenty minutes. I had an extra long piece of selvage edge of the pony fabric to I made a tube and gathered it all with a running stitch, pinned it to the hood and sewed it down twice to be sure it was on really well.
she looks pretty darn cute in it don't you think!
calling all photographers
 | |||
| gorgeous photo by the lovely Kristen |
deep breaths :: finding inspiration
 |
| {glitter painting with Simon in January 2009} |
It also brings up thoughts of comparison and competition in my mind too. When I was eighteen I ventured on my own to live in the city of Chicago to attend a music conservatory, studying vocal performance. I was so excited to be pursing my dreams, SO excited but was faced with the shock of harsh competition and back biting that often comes with seeking out the arts and desiring success. I was young and found favor with one of the top vocal coaches and some of the older women who had been clawing for a spot much longer than I were simply unbearable to deal with. I would often go home and sob myself to sleep, I really could not handle it.
I decided that I would rather not pursue the harsh world of music and the risk of being criticized and compared and I hated how uncomfortable it felt to promote myself in that arena. I had learned to sing in the church and through the deep comfort of the Holy Spirit and in my childhood I would sing to myself finding intimacy with the Lord through music.
But the idea of competition and comparison is so so real. Even in blogging and being "the creative type" I find myself getting jealous or annoyed when others in my circle are considered the "real talent on the crafting front" or the "one with all the musical ability" - silly silly me.
This Ted Talk actually deeply reminds me of one of my sister in laws, Kristen whom I have known longer than our husbands who just happen to be brothers. She herself is an incredible song writer and worship leader and I remember in our twenties sharing our songs with one another and singing together. I remember one evening being inspired through a conversation with her about the truth that: no matter what gifts another person is given, no matter how obvious or great, they can never ever take away the gifts that are inside of you it can only make yours more beautiful and perfect when added together.
I often think about this idea, when I am at home simply doing crafts with my kids or making a masterpiece for dinner. How all inspiration is truly from above, how we are all made in the image of God but not one of us is the entire image we just each have our own piece of the reflection of his beauty. I love creating, I also LOVE helping others create. I have taught jewelry making at a bead store in Seattle off and on for many years and one of my favorite parts is bringing the project, explaining it and then watching as the inspiration light bulb turns on for the women participating. It's like they are little girls playing dress up - giddy with excitement that what I created has expanded and become something that they have created that is uniquely their own. How much more God must delight in seeing us be inspired by something he has created!
This is all sort of a bit of jumbled thoughts coming out this Friday morning but none the less a reminder to myself that we are all a work in progress but we won't find inspiration if we are looking around at others, comparing and criticizing it is only when we open ourselves up to the one who gives the greatest of inspiration in my opinion the greatest artist of all time, the Lord.
*if you would like to listen to the adorable song Chris wrote the other morning and recorded on his iphone about our son Levi, check it out here - and you can find the awesome Ted Talk with Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray, Love here!*
etsy favorites :: marigolds and pinks
a little Thursday morning window shopping, all of these pretties I have added to my etsy favorites in the past few weeks. I am a little predictable with my colors. These are the colors I choose most often, well and turquoise and green. In high school I was affectionately called rainbow bright by a couple of friends. I like a lot of color in my world! But you can never go wrong with a beautiful marigold and pink combination, so cheerful and happy on this cloudy Seattle day!
What about you, do you always gravitate towards the same color combinations? Here's to hoping your day is full of something cheerful and happy!!
Follow my blog with bloglovin
cupcakes please!
Chris and I started a no sugar - low carb detox this past Monday so of course that would co-inside with me discovering this amazingly tempting site, Ming Makes Cupcakes via Stephmodo. I love the layout and the recipes look so incredible. I am bookmarking this for future reference the vanilla almond with maple cream cheese frosting and the chocolate coffee with Bailey's Irish Cream frosting both look sinfully amazing!
These first few days have been hard, detoxing my body of sugar is so brutal. I am however starting to notice a bit more energy and hope that the sugar leaves my system soon and takes with it the nagging withdrawal headache. I have been getting my sugar fix by nibbling on gluten and dairy free peanut butter balls...not quite as good as a piece of cake but the after holiday sugar mood swings and my hypoglycemia will thank me in a few more days!
But mark my words I will be making something from this site in the future - maybe Valentine's day will be the perfect excuse to indulge!
make something monday :: laundry bag
I was also inspired to make a laundry bag out of a vintage sheet (I have way to many of these taking up space) because we have three kiddos sharing on very tiny bedroom. There is not a lot of extra floor space in there but you all know how much laundry three kids can produce in a day - an obscene amount. Needless to say we are constantly tripping on it. I wanted to make something I can hang behind the door, easy to haul downstairs to the basement where our washer and dryer reside too!
This was a no frills project and literally took me under an hour. I threaded the ribbon while nursing the baby and patted myself on the back for multitasking! It actually turned out pretty well and so I plan to make another one for our bedroom. Maybe something a bit more fancy - I am in love with this one at urban outfitters but not sure I want to spend the time adding ruffles to a laundry sack myself.
If you would like to make one of these babies too might I suggest using the pattern for a drawstring bag over on the purl bee blog. I just altered the size - I started with a rectangle closer to 72" X 22"..and I also want to note that I used ribbon for my tie but will need to replace it with a heavier duty cord in the near future. I just didn't feel like going to the store for this. Let me know if you have any questions!
also this past weekend my SIL, Jenny invited a bunch of us to a "junk swap" in a few weeks - a party where you bring your junk and trade for new fun stuff too! I think she is positively genius and can't wait. It has given me an even bigger push to continue the simplifying I am committed to in 2011!
Hope you all have a wonderful week - I am planning to back with several more posts too!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
