color my world valentines and a giveaway

February 11, 201315 Comments

Valentine’s Day is this week, and while I feel it is a bit of an over rated holiday (we SHOULD love our loved ones EVERYDAY) I still decorate for it and get excited about it.

More for my kiddos than anything else.

I wanted to go ALL OUT for Reece’s first Valentine’s party at preschool when he was 3, but held back because he was only in preschool.

Not to mention, I was an exhausted mom of a 3-1/2 and 1-1/2 year old and could only handle buying what was cheapest at the dollar store (is there such a thing?!) and MAYBE sign his name.

Last year, same story different year.

Although, I think I made HIM sign his name.

This year, I decided to do something fun!

Around here we are fans of maps and color, so I decided to combine the two…

valentines

I found these adorable crayon packages at Target…

Tear pages out of the atlas.

Cut out heart shapes…about 6″ large.

Glue a crayon pack onto one side of the heart.

Write “You color my world, friend!” on the other side.

Sign your name.

Share the love!

and a giveaway

~~In the same section of Target where I found the awesome packs of crayons I also found the fun felted heart garland.~~

~~I swore that I could and would make something like it on my own, but gave in and bought TWO for our house.~~

~~Then, I went back and bought one more…for one of you!~~

~~I know you won’t get it in time for Valentines Day, but this is something I may keep up in my house year round!~~

~~And, you can too!~~

~~To enter leave an answer to the following question as a comment:~~

What are your plans for Valentines Day?

~~Deadline is Wednesday, February 13th at 9pm Pacific.~~

~~Winner will be announced on Thursday, February 14th!~~

home is…sharing the love.

{hello friday} 2.8.2013

February 8, 2013April 6, 20201 Comment

Where did the week go?!

We spent ours…

drawing and writing: the kids love to make books. Reece draws the pictures and then sounds out the words to write what the picture is about. It is amazing to see him learning so much! Lorelai mimics her brother and likes to draw “naughty scribbles”.

cleaning: Inside and out. Ryan cleaned up the yard last Sunday. The kids and I cleaned out their playhouse…the stinkbugs had taken up winter residence in there!

thrifting: Treasure hunting for the shop. Treasure hunting for us. Enjoying a solo morning thrift while the kids were in school.

playing: The kids absolutely LOVE all of the vintage Fisher Price toys I have collected.

creating: New items for the shop and for our home. It fuels my soul to create.

savoring: Moments like these. Holding little hands will only last for so long. I cherish every moment.

trying new things: Sewing a doorway puppet theater. This was my second attempt (the first one was tossed because the striped fabric was going to give me a migraine). The third attempt turned out much better…after we added a second tension rod at the bottom of the “stage”.

building: I bought a bunch of cups at Costco. Reece just started stacking…and stacking…and stacking. They played with these for hours…together…not squabbling (who doesn’t love Charlie and Lola?!).

home is…a weeks worth of activities.

easy christmas card photo books

January 21, 20135 Comments

One of my favorite parts about Christmas is receiving the cards from all of our friends and relatives. I especially like the photos.

They make me smile from the day I receive my first card until the day I finally take them down from their display…which is usually one of the last things to come down.

Over the years I have been saving the photos in a drawer in my desk. You see, my aunt had albums full of christmas card photos and every year I loved to sit down on Christmas day and look through them. Although I didn’t know all the people, I learned to recognize the familiar faces year after year and enjoyed seeing how families had grown, adult children had gotten married, etc. My plan was to eventually start some albums of my own.

Last year I found this photo on Pinterest…

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via Maddy on Pinterest

I figured this would be easier and less expensive than photo albums, but I never got around to doing it.

As I was trying to find space in the drawer in my desk for our cards from Christmas 2012 I finally decided to just put the darn books together. I mean, for goodness sake, all I needed was a hole punch (I used a 3 hole punch and a single hole punch), some chipboard, some rings, and a glue stick!

All of my cards were organized by year, so I started punching holes.

{That’s my mom and dad in Italy}

I used two holes of a three hole punch so that I would eventually be able to line up the cards that were differing sizes and shapes.

Then I cut some chipboard that I had from the back of some thrifted frames that I won’t be using. I cut the chipboard a little larger than the largest card…three of the books ended up being 9″ x 6″ and one is 8″ x 6″.

I punched holes in the chipboard and glued our christmas card to the front.

I also made back covers for the books so the cards are protected on both sides of the book.

This year our card was a post card and I wanted to include the back of the card, so I put it on the inside of the back cover.

In less than an hour (it actually took 2 days, but I had to start and stop multiple times for various reasons…kids, dogs, cats, husbands, etc.) I had books from the last 4 years put together!

For now, they are in our basket of photo books in the family room. I think, eventually, I will put them in the attic with the rest of the Christmas decor so they will be a fun tradition to pull out of the bins each year.

Notice a change to the bookshelves? I’ll fill you in on that quick project this week!

Stay tuned…

spring fever

January 19, 2013April 6, 20201 Comment

I’ve got a bit of Spring Fever in the middle of winter.

I posted this photo in my Instagram feed yesterday and a few people asked how I made it.

I originally wrote a post about it here…May 2011.

{when i looked at the post i couldn’t believe that there were Instagram photos on it…i guess i was an early adopter}

I used a tutorial for a ruffle wreath from Jones Design Company.

Her tutorial for rolled paper flowers is basically the same technique for how I made the felt roses.

Anyway, that wreath has been around for a while and has held up pretty well.

I may even make a few more…maybe even put a couple in the shop.

routine

Otherwise, I’m just trying to figure out a routine around here with the kids back in school.

For the last 3+ years I have had housecleaners come every other week. While it was a sanity saver when the kids were babies, I decided it was time to give up that luxury this year. I have found a great sense of accomplishment, and even joy, in keeping my house clean. I want it clean ALL THE TIME now, instead of just one day. In fact, I think I’m becoming a bit obsessed with cleaning…that’s not a bad thing, though. I am even making my own natural cleaning products to use and I will eventually share what’s working with you here.

That being said, I am trying to find time for all of the things I enjoy…creating, running, thrifting, blogging, learning.

As you all know it’s a juggling act, but it’s fun to learn how to keep all the balls in the air.

“snow” days

In the last week the kids have had two “snow” days due to ice on the roads. They really weren’t snow days as the ice was caused by freezing fog, but we took advantage of them by making morning fires in the fireplace and doing some crafting and Valentine’s Day decorating.

I used Emily’s rolled paper flower tutorial to make these Valentine’s Day roses last year.

This paper garland was another Valentine’s Day craft from last year (similar to the Christmas paper garland from Christmas 2011)…I did make some more this year with patterned paper and larger hearts that I will share on another post.

sunshine

Some recent sunshine and longer days has us dreaming about spending more time in the yard.

Odyssey misses sharing coffee with me every morning.

light at the end of the tunnel

I always manage to fit in a bit of thrifting…this week we found some vintage fisher price.

home is…sunny days ahead.

happy paper flowers

January 8, 20135 Comments

Lorelai’s room has been going through a transformation, again.

I’ve moved the bed three different times, hung and rehung artwork, and changed the placement of the tissue paper puffs that were originally decoration for her first birthday party.

I pinned this photo months ago planning to add these flowers to the tissue paper puffs that were on the wall above her bed…

Source: aplaceforusblog.com via stephany @ on Pinterest

I saved paper bags over and over the last few months, only to put them in the recycle bin or in the compost.

The other day I came home from Trader Joes with a bunch of paper bags and decided I needed to finally make the flowers.

Here is the awesome tutorial from A Place for Us.

I got to work on them Sunday morning. The tutorial was easy to follow and the results turned out perfect!

I secretly wish this room was mine. I love the handmade flowers and vintage goodness in her room.

home is…happy paper flowers.

{2013} beginning

January 5, 2013April 6, 2020Leave a comment

So, here it is. My first post of 2013.

Just as 2012 is completed, 2013 has just begun.

be·gin

/biˈgin/

Verb

Start; perform or undergo the first part of (an action or activity): “the Communists have just begun to fight”; “it was beginning to snow”.
Come into being or have its starting point at a certain time or place: “the ground campaign had begun”.

Synonyms

start – commence – initiate – open – lead off – launch

Unlike last year, our house is no longer a “blank slate”. Don’t get me wrong, there are still projects to be done, but most of them are out of my scope of expertise.

I have the designs for a new kitchen drawn up in my head.

I know what kind of wood/laminate flooring I want in our main floor.

I have great ideas for our master bath.

And, our second floor pop-up over the living room and dining room is all planned…just need an design/build group to work with to finish the details.

None of those have to get done for us to be happy in our home, though.

So, we’ll wait until the time is right.

For now, I will begin by picking a white to paint over the red walls in our kitchen and the blue sponge paint in the kids bathroom.

And, I have a fun idea from Pinterest for Lorelai’s room…

There will be more projects, more thrifting, and more fun adventures with the kids.

This is just the beginning.

home is…to begin is half the work.

a handmade dolly

December 10, 20124 Comments

In 2011 I received a sewing machine for my birthday…in June.

I was intimidated by it and didn’t use it for months.

Finally, in October 2011, I took a sewing class and learned the basics of my machine and how to follow a pattern.

From there, I started sewing paper…making garland and paper penant banners for Christmas decorations.

I also made some dolls for the kids.

Recently, I found some great vintage fabric at Goodwill and decided to make a doll.

photo 1-3

I used the Black Apple Doll pattern, but enlarged it A LOT.

And, this is how it turned out…

photo 3-1

I have a feeling I will be making more of these.

Reece already requested one with “fire” fabric.

I think I am going to tweak the pattern and make the legs a little longer, the body a little slimmer, and the head a little narrower.

I’ll let you know how it turns out.

home is…a handmade dolly.

feeling ducky, 7 random things, and a giveaway

November 15, 201217 Comments

I have 8 things to share with you…

1st…the weekend.

Last Sunday, we decided to have a fire in the backyard in the middle of the day.

It was about 40 degrees out.

We roasted hot dogs for lunch.

Snuggled under thrifted quilts.

Drank hot chocolate.

And, roasted marshmallows.

It was a perfect Sunday afternoon.

2nd…on a whim.

I decided to move the furniture in Lorelai’s room…again.

And, since I was moving the furniture around I decided to add a little vintage feel, too.

I’ll do a full post about her room in the future.

3rd…fabric is fun.

One of the best things about working at my old interior design job was the days when the fabric reps would visit. They would bring their fabric in, throw it on the table during their presentation, and we would pass it around oohing and ahhing.

I don’t get visits from fabric reps anymore, but I still ooh and ahh over fabric.

The last couple of days I have been filling hoops.

We have a big hoop wall in out un-dining room and I have rearranged and added to it thanks to Megan at Sparrow Mercantile. You should also visit her blog…Contented Sparrow.

Anyway, I filled some new hoops for Lorelai’s room and Reece asked if I would do some for his room.

Have you ever seen boy themed hoops? Me neither.

However, I had some fabrics that Reece had picked out on a few of our trips to the fabric store, and some that were left over when I made his {Colton} super hero doll last year.

So, I made him some super hoops…

4th…shiny and brite.

The kids are excited for Christmas.

When they are excited, I get excited.

I found these at Goodwill.

So, we started decking the halls…still being thankful, of course.

5th…crib sheets.

I used Lorelai’s old crib sheet for one of the hoops I made for her and decided to use the rest of it for another project.

I just cut strips of fabric (three crib sheets and a bunch of other fabrics that I had in my sewing hutch) about 2″ wide by 16-18″ long and looped them around a piece of jute. It took about 2 hours and I am so happy with the result.

I love that I was able to reuse her crib sheets to decorate her room!

6th…the un-dining room.

Getting a few things up on the wall.

A vintage metal tray with vintage flash cards (just added stick on magnets to the back of the cards).

A vintage seven-up crate filled with vintage juice glasses.

And the vintage tray above it was another great find from Sparrow Mercantile. It makes me laugh!

7th…vintage linens.

Filling hoops and decking the halls got me thinking about some vintage linens I had been holding onto for just the right project.

So, I filled some hoops with vintage christmas linens!

And, they are in the shop!

8th…a giveaway!

I would like to give one of you a happy holiday hoop!

To enter leave an answer to the question below as a comment:

When do you start decking the halls?

Deadline is Monday, November 19th at 9pm Pacific.

Winner will be announced on Tuesday, November 20th!

home is…always working on a project.

odds and ends

November 7, 2012Leave a comment

First…

I promised my Instagram and Facebook followers a recipe for the Pumpkin Spice Playdough we made yesterday.

Here is is:

It’s not mine…came from the kids school newsletter.

Second…

Been adding a few things to colton+cadence this week.

Third…

I also had a little fun with flash cards around home tonight.

It was soooo easy.

You need:

flash cards
background paper (I chose a paper bag)
frame
scissors
glue
sharpie or pencil

Cut paper to fit frame.

Arrange flash cards.

Glue into place.

Place into frame.

Hang on your wall.

I also made this one where I added the year we were married, the year Reece was born, and the year Lorelai was born.

home is…fun with flash cards.

{our home} mad for plaid

October 26, 20122 Comments

One of the things I love about living in the Pacific Northwest is that fall lingers.

The first signs start to show in September…apple farms, cooler nights, shorter days

October brings changing leaves, boot and sweater weather, and pumpkin patches.

Wait…it’s not over!

The leaves still change color well into November until the rain settles in and our thoughts change to winter on their own.

Given this fact, the quilts and afghans we used for picnics and outdoor movies during the summer have found their place in our home for use everyday…and I was inspired.

Specifically by the plaids in the quilts…probably somebody’s old ripped shirt that could no longer be worn.

I thought about making some pillow covers out of thrifted plaid shirts, but wasn’t having any luck. The shirts were too expensive (i.e. one shirt could cover one 20″ x 20″ pillow, but the shirts I liked were all $13-$19).

Then I searched the internet for pillows, but just couldn’t find something I liked.

Then, I went to Target yesterday. I found two large plaid pillows and thought, “Perfect,” but they were $30 each.

So, I wandered…thinking about my options…and stumbled onto some woven throws on clearance for $8 each. I figured that even if I could only make one pillow out of each throw that I would still get each pillow for only $8, but they weren’t plaid.

I bought five of them and was on my way home when I figured I should just stop in at the fabric store and see what they might have.

Plaid flannel was on sale for 50% off!

I found five patterns I liked and bought one yard of each.