StashHappy

UFPP update

2011-12-19T11:44:00.000-07:00

Okie—time for a reality check.

I have been working on projects—making good headway. However I am not devoting myself solely to one project at a time. It just doesn’t work!

I tried knitting for 8 hours straight—wow did my hand hurt! Those little size 1 needles will kill ya.

Plus—I am a distracted crafter, I will admit it. I probably should’ve been labeled w/an acronym years ago, but we will pretend that I’m perfectly focused and organized. So…wanna see what I have been working on?

Little Miss Crafty has been into her dolls lately—and perusing a certain catalog like it was a holy grail or something. So…what is a mom to do but get to work and make some clothes. This outfit was fun because I used on of her old shirts that didn’t fit anymore. The long sleeves became pants, the body of the shirt became an A-Line dress. I trimmed it with a few strips of gathered fabric—super easy. It has velcro in the back for getting on and off.

*I had to put the bit about velcro in b/c my sister still thinks I sew things ONTO dolls—where you have to be cut out of them.

I have several items cut out, ready to be sewn up, as well as some little knitted projects in the works. As a result Little Miss Crafty has been banned from my workroom. She might see something.

Making it Up

2011-12-16T11:30:00.001-07:00

I think most of what I make—it has been a spontaneous thing. Take my latest project—a bag. Mr. CFO is probably reading this and rolling his eyes. I noticed last week that my beloved damask messenger bag was getting worn thru in the bottom—and it’s no wonder! I have dragged that thing around for 3 years!! So, it was time for a new messenger bag. I don’t usually undertake bags anymore as my machine doesn’t like them (it’s not built to do that sort of thing), I don’t have much patience, and I stab myself about 8 bagillion times with pins when I am trying to shove it thru the machine on the last pass.

*Oh—before you look at these pictures you have to know that my workspace is completely TERRIBLE right now, you are NOT allowed to judge me by it’s state or the fact that my ironing board cover is gross.

Still—I don’t feel like forking out $ for a bag, so here it is:

I think this is about IT for my apples & pears fabric, I have been rationing it out for a few years.

Want to see how it gets done?

1. Fabric, rotary mat, cutter, & ruler

2. Cut front & back panel to be 6.5” x 11”

3. Cut flap to be 11” by whatever. Mine was ~7”. Really, make it as long as you need for it to fold over.

4. Cut bag bottom (I like using upholstery canvas) same size as front & back panels.

5. Iron in fusible interfacing (décor-bond). Be careful, there is a sticky and a non-sticky side. Don’t be a dork like me and iron it the wrong way. You’ll just have to peel the darn stuff off your ironing board and start again. Thus—my beautiful ironing board cover.

non-sticky v. sticky

Can you see the difference?

*it is ok to piece the interfacing—it won’t really show much on the bottom or inside pieces.

6. Sew front and back to either end of the bottom. If you have a directional print like mine, make sure it will face the correct way. Topstitch down. This is your shell now.

7. Cut a lining piece to be the same size as your shell and flap. Fuse them with interfacing as well.

8. Sew the flap lining and outer piece together. I used this fancy rounded-corner template (my starch bottle) to trace and cut around. I like having rounded corners on my bag flap/cover. Turn right side out and top-stitch down.

9. Be SMART—not a dork like me—put on pockets, velcro, etc—where you will want them. If you try to do this at a later point, it is a pain in the you know where.

10. Sew up the sides of the lining and shell (separately).

11. Cut out square notch on the bottom corners of each shell and lining. These little squares will determine how FAT your bag is, so be careful. I did about ~1” squares because I want a slim-ish profile. Really—the bag will be chubby once I get everything in.

Use your first square as a template for the other 3.

12. Now you’re going to get technical and use the smoosh technique. Basically flatten the square across the diagonal (or hypotenuse) of the square, and sew shut.

13. Turn shell right side out, poking corners out for a nice square bottom. Leave lining inside-out.

14. Take your flap & shell and stitch together as shown.

15. Oh—before I forget—get a strap sewn up. Take a long-ish piece of fabric (your choice), iron it in half, then turn in edges and sew together. You could buy webbing to use as a strap as well—use what you like.

16. Fit everything together—turn in rough edges. Pin like crazy—try not to stab yourself.

17. Topstitch around. Trim threads. Admire your handiwork.

18. Try it on in the mirror and notice that some little person has been kissing your mirror with smudgy lips.

The UFPP

2011-11-24T10:36:00.000-07:00

Hi, I’m Alison and I have a UFPP. That would be an Un-Finished Project Pile. I am attempting to turn over a new leaf here and work on projects until they are finished. One project at a time. No leaving a project mid-way through to start another. Yikes!!

So that means that the birds cut out and waiting on my ironing board are going to have to wait. Sorry kids. Good news for this project though—it’s getting finished!

After working on it tonight, I only have 1 row of blocks to quilt. My quilting style for this particular project is rustic. Big stitches, nothing is really super even/squared off. This was a stash-busting quilt. It is 3/4 flannel. The floral fabric on the front (white, orange, pink & red) is a flannel, so are the red strips, and then the backing is also flannel. So what it lacks in technical beauty, it makes up in fluffy cuddliness.

Now all it needs is a home…and to be finished.

After this the UFPP will have a sweater, a pair of gloves, 2 birds, a pair of ‘happy pants’ to be taken in {that might be bumped up in priority}, oh—and of course the full-size scrappy log cabin quilt I am piecing. Duh!! I’d forgotten about that one. Hmmm…now that I think about it, there’s another scrappy baby flannel quilt that needs work in the closet, and another full-size quilt that needs to be put on the frame and quilted!

This list is getting a bit long.

A little Angry

2011-11-23T12:08:00.001-07:00

I came across the CUTEST pattern yesterday while browsing thru the books at Joann’s.

It is McCalls #6481. On sale for $1.99 so of COURSE I had to get it. My kids ~~like~~ LOVE the original birds, so I thought this would be a fun thing to do. All that was left was to grab some fleece remnants (on double-sale) and felt squares and I was good to go! This is the first one, sort of an orangey-red. I was going to make him more cute, but Monster said he HAD to be ANGRY!! I complied by cutting out the eyebrows and attaching them.

I still think he’s pretty cute—with his off-center beak he looks like he is smiling a bit.

Deadline

2011-11-15T21:13:00.001-07:00

How are you with deadlines? I’m pretty good if I have a clear-cut plan of action. However, if it’s a creative deadline—I am not so good. I think my creative muse is the muse of procrastination. Maybe it’s b/c I am thinking about it so much, stressing about it, etc.

The Green Pillow

2011-11-04T19:13:00.001-06:00

Our story starts with a 15” feather pillow insert. I admit, this was a second hand find. I assiduously cleaned it and sanitized it over the course of a few months—gotta make sure it’s clean. Every time I would go in my workroom I would see it sitting there. Lonely. Something HAD to happen with this pillow! I wanted more feather pillows throughout the house, but I was hesitant to do anything permanent to it.

WHAT IF I WANTED TO CHANGE IT??

Then I got over my stupidity and reminded myself that if I make a removable cover, I could change it as much as I wanted. Problem solved.

One thing I love about having a stash is that I can pull from it to make all sorts of items. Take this fabric—the green is all repurposed from an old bedskirt. It was a very pretty bedskirt, but not the right size. First I sewed strips together and then I cut 4 triangles and pieced them into a bulls-eye square. I thought maybe I could leave it like that, but it didn’t look quite right. So—it was time for a bit of basic quilting.

Using some leftover fabric from the bedskirt (a cheap white bit), and a square of leftover quilt batting, I sandwiched it all together—in the ditches so it’s not really visible. Here’s the view from the backside.

Next I layed big pieces of the bedskirt—overlapping them in the center—facedown on the top of the square. This will form the back of the pillow. see those hemmed edges in the middle—this was already part of the bedskirt. It’s so nice when I don’t have to do extra sewing.

Stitch around the edge, then I used a zig-zag stitch around to reinforce it.

Turn right side out and stuff the pillow into the new cover.

The only thing left to do is to try it out—soften it up—and find the perfect spot .

Pinterest Challenge

2011-11-02T21:17:00.001-06:00

For my challenge, I decided to take this T-shirt Ruffle Scarf tutorial by Vermillion Rules and give it a whirl. Here’s her original:

I did just what she suggested and grabbed one of Mr. CFO’s old T’s out of the Goodwill bag (we ALWAYS have a bag—or 3—being filled for Goodwill).It has definitely seen better days, there are some questionable spots on it—in short, GREAT for a trial run at her technique. I dialed up the tension and made my stitches as big as can be and started sewing. At first it went well, then I ran out of bobbin. After replacing the bobbin, the tension seemed to self-adjust (rotten smart sewing machine) and was sewing NORMAL! Thus, 3/4 of it is pretty ruffly, and the other bit isn’t.

I would like to try this again—when I have the correct thread, needle, etc—all set up. It really went together in no time at all. Best of all—Little Miss Crafty here has a new fashion accessory—can you tell she loves it?

What did you try out?

Pinterest Challenge

2011-10-30T21:11:00.001-06:00

If you are like me you have gobs of pins in your pinterest file!

Well…it is time for the Fall Pinterest Challenge!!! This is where you chose something from your Pinterest boards, something that you’ve really been inspired by and wanted to make/do. And then you get working! This doesn’t have to be exact—work your inspirational item in YOUR style. Then post it to your blog—or share here on Wednesday November 2nd. I can’t wait to see what everyone does!

This challenge was started by (and I am passing it along) from these lovely hosts:

For full ‘rules’ (we use that term extremely loosely) check out the Bower Power Blog (Katie).

Say it Ain’t So!!!

2011-10-01T23:00:00.001-06:00

Today a couple kids and I went to one of my favorite antique shops in Lafayette. It’s right on Hwy 7, very unassuming, always has tons of cute & fabulous finds. It has been at least a year since I have had time to stop in. After browsing around for 30+ minutes, I came to the sad conclusion that I hadn’t found ANYTHING that I wanted to use.

There must be something wrong with me.

Really!

Have I moved past vintage & antique? I LOVE vintage/antique/country—all of that! What am I going to do? I am thoroughly blaming Mr. CFO for this one. I’m sure he is slipping me ‘don’t decorate’ vitamins. Or maybe some ‘less projects’ supplements.

31 days

2011-09-29T19:51:00.001-06:00

Starting Saturday join me for 31 days of tips and techniques for staging your home!

Salad Fixin’s

2011-09-27T21:51:00.001-06:00

Believe it or not—these are the fixin’s for a fabulous Harvest Chicken Salad. Well---except for red onion, I was out of that. Still—a nice bowl of crisp greens, crunchy apple, savory nuts, moist chicken, and sweet grapes is nothing to sneeze at.

On a Roll!!

2011-09-13T19:47:00.001-06:00

I am on a PiF roll! This is #4. I flipped thru books, surfed the web, nothing really caught my eye. It was when I was playing in the yarn stash that I came across these two little skeins of super silky-soft yarn that I knew where they were going.

This is a combo knit/crochet hat—it came together pretty quickly and the pattern is just so cute! Here is my bucket modeling the hat. I love how the buttons add the perfect finishing touch.

My PiF victim (unlike me) has gorgeous hair and the perfect head to wear cute hats like this! It was delivered this afternoon.

I have a problem…

2011-09-11T22:56:00.001-06:00

Well, I’m sure I have more than one.

Lately I have been eyeing my yarn collection…thinking, pondering—wanting MORE! I really and truly love yarn—especially natural fibers. I love the feel, the color, the texture, the twist to them, ALL OF IT! I love how it flows through my fingers, over the silky bamboo needles, and becomes something luxurious.

If I could, I would be a spinner. I think I need a wheel:

I’ll just have to keep the kids away—don’t want anyone sleeping for a hundred years.

A Pleasant Surprise

2011-09-07T22:33:00.001-06:00

For both me and someone else…hint, hint.

This has been waiting to be finished for about a year. I started it on a whim—with no real purpose in mind other than playing with a pattern and pulled a set of coordinating prints from the stash. After sitting in the UFO pile for a year—I finally knew exactly where this was supposed to go! No, it’s not for Mr. CFO’s office. I don’t know if he would forgive me for that.

I will admit to being a bit hesitant—even when I pulled it freshly quilted off the frame. However, a quick ride thru the washer & dryer and this was suddenly not a screaming banshee of color—but a gentle blossom of happiness and springtime! Sure to bring some sunshine to even the gloomiest of days. That was a pleasant surprise for me.

The pleasant surprise for someone else is that I am not keeping it. Here it is, all snuggled into it’s box. Nitey-nite.

Shhh…we have to whisper so not to disturb its beauty sleep…

Ok, not really.

This beauty is going to a beautiful person as a PiF (a Pay it Forward!). Yes, it’s been approximately 800 years since I sent one off, and I have 2 left after this, but hey—my PiF's are meaningful—I think about them quite a bit. Now if I can just get myself to the post office soon—I have a backlog of shipping* to do.

*which is quite ironic as my day-job is in the shipping department for a local business!!

The 3-Hour Quilt

2011-08-29T23:05:00.001-06:00

Last fall (was it that long ago ?!?) I was invited to participate in a quilt-a-long. The pattern was a fractured star—stack N’ whack style. Since I’d always wanted to make one of these I said YES!! and one evening gathered my 9 fat quarters and started layering, cutting, and sewing. An hour later the blocks were done. In another 1/2 hour I had the top put together.

Fast forward to last Thursday, I had a chance to try out my MiL’s new Avante.

Oh, did I have FUN! This was the friendliest machine-quilting experience I have EVER had. 90 minutes later, the quilt was finished!! I couldn’t believe it. Back when I did this one it took weeks to get it all done. The fractured star quilt isn’t all that much smaller, but it went quick. Here it is, a total of 3 hours:

I worked on this using free-motion quilting, no pattern, just lots of swirls.

Controlling Clutter

2011-08-24T08:19:00.001-06:00

One thing that I dread about the start of school is all the paper that comes home! Newsletters, book orders, worksheets, forms to be filled out, etc. Most of it important, all of it gets piled up. We have tried various systems, all have failed. When it comes to organizational systems—it’s a personal thing. What works for your mom, sister, neighbor, bestie—may not work for you.

This year we are going to try a mail-box system:

Each kid has been assigned their own box where important papers, Friday folders, homework, etc will go. The clothespin is there to hold ‘don’t lose this’ items such as $ for hot lunch, b-day invites, etc. I am considering a folder to stick all the syllabus/class expectation forms in.

Too Cute!

2011-08-17T21:33:00.001-06:00

The are just way to cute!

I am not talented in this arena, I can appreciate those who are though. What a fun idea for back to school!

Ooey-Gooey-Yumminess

2011-08-15T14:06:00.001-06:00

Oh yeah—chocolate, oats, and caramel—what could be better on a cool summer evening?

Papers

2011-08-06T23:21:00.001-06:00

I found myself lost in PSE today. Last night I figured it was about time I did some digi scrapping. Having an idea in mind of what I wanted to do, what colors I wanted for the theme of our vacation book, I went ahead and started designing papers. This is what I came up with:

With them I have finished 2 layouts so far. Yes, I am a SLOW scrapper.

Papers

2011-08-06T23:21:00.000-06:00

With them I have finished 2 layouts so far. Yes, I am a SLOW scrapper.

Matching Nightstand

2011-08-04T22:59:00.001-06:00

In a previous blog posting (pre-L@HI) I featured a dresser I had redone:

I happened to be thrifting and found this sweet little nightstand:

graceful lines, nice details. In good condition too! The best part of the whole thing is that I had just enough of my free quart of Deepest Aqua from Glidden left to paint it with. The project took 3 hours from start to finish, it turned out beautiful, no?

Check out those curves!

No more gold accents here.

Pretty details.

It’s not a perfect match, but it is complementary for sure. The best part—my client loves it!

I had a free can of “Deepest Aqua” from Glidden and it covered this beautifully. During the great room-swap a month (or so) ago, it came to my attention that a nightstand was needed also.

Beef Enchilada Casserole

2011-07-25T17:48:00.001-06:00

I can’t remember where I found this, but it sure is yummy!

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can (about 10 ounces) red enchilada sauce
1 can (10 1/2 ounce) condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 can (10 1/4 ounce) cream of chicken soup
1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chile peppers
1 cup milk
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 package (about 7 ounces) tortilla chips, coarsely crumbled
8 ounces grated Cheddar cheese or Mexican cheese blend
1 can (4 ounce) chopped ripe olives

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375°
In a large skillet, brown ground beef with onion; remove from heat and drain off excess fat. Add chili sauce, soups, chopped chile peppers, milk, and minced garlic; mix well.

In a greased 9x13x2-inch baking pan, place a layer of half the coarsely crumbled tortilla chips; top with half of the ground beef mixture. Layer with remaining crumbled tortilla chips, then remaining meat mixture. Sprinkle cheddar cheese and chopped black olives over top. Bake at 375° for 35 to 40 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

This week

2011-07-10T23:38:00.000-06:00

This week I am at Girls Camp!! The past 5 (6??) months have been a blur of planning and preparing as we got ready for camp. In my usual fashion, inspiration sparked at the last moment—and instead of the YCLs just handing these out to girls who they’ve observed in RAKs, I have make them into pins instead.

At camp the girls wear lanyards and engage in quite a bit of pin-trading. I found these Kindness Coins thru Oriental Trading, and spent an hour hot-glueing the whole batch. Thankfully, no burns.

Windows & Mirrors

2011-06-20T10:43:00.001-06:00

In our Master Bedroom we have this GINORMOUS window. Our only window. It has small sliding sections on either end (that slide towards the middle), and a big stationary section in the middle. It is approximately 8’ wide. This wouldn’t be such a huge problem for us except for 2 things:

1. Our backyard neighbors are sort of close

2. We like to have the windows open weather permitting (May-Oct)

I am sure our neighbors see too much already, we want to maintain a certain sense of decency but still be able to have unrestricted airflow—especially in the evenings.

We have considered shutters:

Pros: look great, we could open the sections and move the sliders.

Cons: I don’t know if you can tell---but they don’t really give you any privacy. I can see the ‘view’ thru the slats.

Blinds:

This is what is in the rest of our house. We didn’t order any for our bedroom 6 years ago because I was trying to go in a different direction.

Pros: cheap

Cons: we would have to buy multiple panels because of how wide the window is, they don’t offer any more privacy than shutters do.

Curtains (what we currently have):

This is a pretty fair representation of what we have now. Our ‘drapery’ panels are on a broken traverse rod (issue with a cheap carpet cleaning company), but we have the privacy panels and then the sheers underneath.

Pros: pretty, adds more texture and color to the room

Cons: no air comes through! We have to configure the drapery panels in the middle of the window, and the outer edges, and tie up the sheers so that air comes through! That leaves 1/2 the window exposed.

Mr. CFO keeps saying our room has an ‘unfinished’ feeling to it (no kidding!), and we should work on that. But I come back to the window every time. It is a stumbling block for sure!

Any ideas?

Starting Small

2011-06-11T23:00:00.001-06:00

I am the type of person who jumps into projects with both feet—clear up to my eyeballs. Planning, research? Who needs it?

Apparently, I do!

I have a grand vision for the house. In a perfect world I could click a button and PRESTO, the walls would change color. I could use a slide-rule (like in Photoshop) to tweak the color to be precise and perfect. No taping, prep work, clean-up. If I didn’t like the color, I could erase it easily. However, since I don’t live in ‘perfect’—it takes a lot of trial and error. While there are lots of things that work and I don’t want to change. Most of it is starting to make me a bit crazy. Which is why I need to start SMALL.

If you were to change your entire house—where would you start?

Basement Update: Drywall

2011-05-16T16:13:00.001-06:00

I have been COMPLETELY MIA lately—I admit it. This end-of-school time of year always comes at me like a runaway freight train and I drop all non-essentials as I try to wade thru all the activities. Not that I haven’t found time for some fun, Mr. CFO and I were blessed with the chance to take a week-long anniversary trip to San Francisco. It was a great getaway—so nice to act like a couple every once in a while.

We came home to the sweet surprise of having all the drywall up in the basement! Last we heard, the plan was to have the drywall started. Thanks to our great crew—the whole thing was done. Then last week the mud, tape, and texture went on. The house was a tad bit dusty—but since when has that been unusual?

An Attempt & An Update

2011-04-27T13:10:00.001-06:00

First off, I am attempting an art project for our soon (hopefully) to be finished basement. It involves this:

Second, as for an update:

Let’s just say there’s a LOT of this

in the works. We didn’t pass inspection this morning because the stupid builder made STUPID decisions that our Contractor is now having to fix. I did hear that out of the 16 building inspections recently, 7 have been from my subdivision, and ALL of them are facing this. It really doesn’t make me any happier to know this. Why is it that big builders aren’t held to the same standards that general contractors are?

Good news is that my new tile has shipped!! I am hoping it is here by Friday or Saturday at the latest.

Idea List

2011-04-26T15:24:00.001-06:00

I saw something today that I really need to make:

Freckled Whimsy

An iPad zippered case. Aren’t these cute? I would most likely have to make it more masculine as my husband takes it to meetings and when he travels (which is not often thank heavens!). Also, I know of SEVERAL people who have gotten tablet devices like these—wouldn’t this make a fantastic gift? I can’t really give out iPads, but I could give a case.

Little Lovelies

Also, it’s getting to be the time of year for Teacher Appreciation gifts. I sure do appreciate my kids’ teachers, all that they put up with. I saw this idea—how fun!

Tidy Mom

My sister in law does cool things like this—how cool is it—pie in a JAR! Very portable, individually portioned, great for picnics, etc. This also reminds me of one of my guys who is obsessed with the word ‘pie’—or ‘pi’, he can’t decide which one. I think I’m going to have to make some ‘pi[e]’ pillows for his bed.

Remodelaholic

Now, this isn’t necessarily my style, but the phrase is the name of a cousin’s family blog—I think they need this sign.

Thrifty Décor Chick

Do you see that gorgeous black pantry door? I need that—badly! Currently our pantry has a curtain. It used to have a bi-fold door. I’m sure most of you are aware that bi-fold doors are EVIL!! Whichever genius came up with them—they’re not on my ‘good’ list. Anyhoo—our refrigerator opens right into the door space too—another instance of ~~moronic~~ great house designing courtesy of our builder. Don’t worry—they’re bankrupt and OOB, so you don’t have to worry that you might buy a new house from them. Oh, back to the pantry door—if I could frame in a smaller door, I think it would work puurrfectly!

What has been inspiring you this week?

Lost

2011-04-22T22:30:00.001-06:00

As you know, one of the expected things in any home improvement project is that it will cost more than you originally estimated.

Case in point—the tile.

I found a screaming deal @ Home Depot a couple months ago. 12” tile for $.58 each! I promptly bought the required amount and then had it held @ the store until we were ready (and had room) to bring it over. That was supposed to be today. At 7:54 the phone rang, it was the guy in charge of my held order:

“Did you pick up that tile?”

“No, I was in yesterday and cancelled the toilet, but that’s it.”

“Well, the tile is gone and we can’t find it. I’m calling around to other stores and they are all out because it was a clearance item. I will keep looking and call you back.”

After filling Mr. CFO in and getting everyone out the door, I called Home Depot back. Tiles were still missing, no hope of finding them. I decided to start over. 20 minutes later I was at the returns desk getting a refund for all the tile I purchased.

I have decided to look at this as a blessing in disguise—I wasn’t overjoyed by the old tile. Now I can be SUPER happy about it.

Walls!!

2011-04-20T22:19:00.000-06:00

Look—we have WALLS!! Amazing what just 2 days of steady work will do, huh?

Here you have a view of our lovely unfinished pantry & utility area. Let me tell you—there’s some interesting & unique construction work back there courtesy of the crew that built this house. Our crew has been marveling at intervals at how our house even manages to stay up.

We discovered early on that there had been nothing holding this window in but silicone. Sure, there were screws—but they didn’t attach the window to the house, missed it by several inches. I know, quality construction. No wonder our builder went bankrupt.

I think this area has me the MOST excited though—see that little room there? It is going to be a BATHROOM!! No, it’s not very big—but since when do 2 boys need a big bathroom?

All in all—we are VERY excited by how fast the work is going. This would have taken us a month to complete. Which would explain why WE are not the professional builders.

The Stack

2011-04-18T22:06:00.000-06:00

Something is going on here…it involves sawdust.

We are finishing our basement.

When I say “We” I mean that Mr. CFO is paying for it and I am overseeing it to make sure the ‘grand design’ is being adhered to.

I got an email last Tuesday “Hey, we’re going to come over tomorrow and start.”

WHAT???

There was still carpet, furniture, legos & other misc. toys hanging about. Shelves & pantry items that needed to be relocated.

I put my scrawny armed offspring to work moving furniture, rolling carpet, dejunking…Wednesday morning was busy. By Wednesday evening this is what we had:

Nowhere NEAR cleared out. Oops.

That stack of wood DID smell pretty good though.

Measuring Up

2011-04-15T00:13:00.000-06:00

The other night I spontaneously pinned my kids to a small section of a wall and pulled their hair with a rotary ruler. True story.

The rule is—feet flat on the floor, heels against the wall, and I use a ruler (usually one of my big clear rotary ones that is handy) to make sure I am getting an accurate measurement of their height. When one kid gets measured, they ALL want to be measured.

Then they ran around looking for the tape measure to see how high their mark was on the wall. This specific section of wall is pretty skinny, so it’s not like it will ever have another purpose, but as I was laying awake in bed, unable to sleep thanks to a massive caffeine buzz, I got to thinking. What will happen to our measurement wall when I repaint?

Did you see how I slipped that in? When, not if, but WHEN I repaint.

Then the inspiration came—sweet inspiration. I should make a growth chart. And it had to be cool, funky, unique, not babyish or goofy—totally awesome!

I started out with a 1 x 10 x 6 pine board that Mr. CFO had sitting in the garage: Add a sample of “Frozen Pond” and with a tape measure start marking where the lines will be.

There’s a great wood marker I like to use:

Works like a dream!

Obviously it looks better from a distance.

Now comes the super fancy technical part—adding the numbers, you ready?

Print out the numbers on a piece of paper. Make sure it’s a font you like.

Using the biggest, most preschool-ish pencil you can find, scribble all over the back of the paper where the numbers are.

Now, put the numbered paper down where you want it to be on the board and trace around the number—and a magical thing happens—all the pencil rubbing on the back acts like carbon paper (if you’re old enough to remember that) and you get an outline on the board!!

Ooh—aahh!

Color in the number—remember to use your best coloring skills.

Here’s where I got a little fancy. I took a scrap of 220 grit sandpaper and sanded down the entire board. The lines and numbers then looked like this:

Not to worry, a little stain marker along the edges and some finishing paste wax and the board looked fantabulous!

Now I won’t ever have to lose their measurements! I put where Mr. CFO and I measure up b/c the kids like to see how close they’re getting. I need to put grandparents on there too I think. They get a kick out of the idea that my grandma was only 4’ 11” at her tallest.

Regular Homes & Gardens 4/14

2011-04-14T00:33:00.000-06:00

For the past few days I have been asking a certain little person to clean his room. I don’t mind the legos and blocks so much, I understand that it’s frustrating to pick up when you’re in the middle of creating. The laundry drives me nuts though. To think I spent so much time washing & folding just to have him dump everything out…

*deep breaths here*

It really is a wonder that he can manage to find anything in this mess. Doesn’t it look like the laundry is in the middle of an epic battle for room dominance?

Just Looking

2011-04-13T00:54:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago I had to go buy some touch-up paint for our house. Currently it is {faded} Connected Grey by Sherwin Williams. I am always amused by paint color names. This ‘grey’ isn’t very grey at all, especially when paired with the stone and the black shutters. It turns positively green!

I don’t know if this picture helps. And yes—the skies are AMAZINGLY blue here in Northern Colorado.

As I waited for the paint to be mixed I asked about how long could I expect our paint to last before I had to repaint the entire thing (instead of a few patches here and there). It turns out that I will probably need to repaint the house in the next year or two (BOO!) as our builder used the cheapest watered-down grade of paint they could from SW, and it’s only guaranteed for about 5-7 years. In case you haven’t read before, this is year 6. Colorado weather, while seemingly mild in the pictures, is anything but! Lots of high winds, hail storms in the summer, blizzards in the winter, frequent subzero temps, the fact that we have virtually NO humidity, are a mile up in elevation, and LOTS of blazing sunshine in the summer makes for hard wear on a builder’s grade paint job. (Not to mention hard wear on a red-head with sunburn-prone skin!)

Naturally, I have been thinking—do we go with the same color again, or do we change it up? Here’s some options I’ve played around with:

Aqua

Lighter Blue

Brown

Darker Blue

Dark Grey

TanWhite

What is your preference?

Idea List 4/12

2011-04-12T00:35:00.000-06:00

Self-Adhesive Velcro to keep drawer organizers from sliding around by Tatertots and Jello

--check out her drawer organizational project—pretty cool!

Yarn Ball (with tutorial) by Make and Takes

How cool are these? So many options….

Canning Jar Soap Dispenser by Blissfully Content

I am sorely tempted to make this for my kitchen. It would be so much nicer than the big bottle of dish soap.

Mom Cave by Simply Mod Mom

I am ever so looking forward to having my special space back. I have a plan formulating in the back of my head.

Chocolate Mug Cake by Buttermilk Cottage

Honestly though—with how this week has started out—I think this could be the BEST idea of all.

I hope that these bits of bloggy inspiration help you find your creative mojo.

Yummy Book Review

2011-04-11T09:18:00.001-06:00

As it happens so often in bloggy-world, I saw a review for a book that I thought would be GREAT to try out. This book has nothing in it that I can eat, but being the nice mom that I am, I thought I would try it out on the kids. If you’ve ever made your own bread, you will understand the draw that a claim of 5 minutes bread has.

The recipe was pretty basic, the technique a slight bit different, simpler really. The results were FANTASTIC!

One batch made 4 good-size round loaves of bread, which my kids tore into in a way I’ve never witnessed. At least when it comes to bread I’ve made. It was very similar in texture to french bread you buy at the store—crackly crust, soft on the inside—tons of flavor even though it was made with a minimum of ingredients!

I will admit that it took about 3 hours to make—however, the idea behind this is that you can refrigerate unused dough for up to 2 weeks. It will develop a better flavor as time goes on (similar to a sourdough) and the rise time out of the fridge is only 25 minutes. Not bad, huh?

I do have to share that my kids were discovered squeezing the bread and quoting this:

Love is…

2011-04-08T11:11:00.001-06:00

My stash of thrifted frames has been growing (bad Alison!), which meant I really had to use one.

I just found this lovely and came up with an idea right away—a message board to go in the middle of my ‘someday completed’ gallery wall. In this case, I thought the use of our name wouldn’t be too cheesy.

Here’s how it worked:

1. lightly sand the frame

2. paint it.

first I tried black, then thought better when I remembered this fabric

which I absolutely ADORE and have decided to use as inspiration in the house.

*don’t forget the gloss coat—one interesting effect is that a gloss coat will deepen colors and hide flaws.

3. cover the cardboard with some homespun fabric. I used Krylon’s spray adhesive to help me with this. Up until trying Krylon I was NOT a fan of spray adhesive as they get gunky and yucky and all sorts of other ‘-ucky’ words, they’re hard to clean off your hands afterwards, etc. Krylon comes out in a fine mist, it has a longer repositionable time, but dries permanent.

4. lettering. I do not have a cricut or silhouette or any other sort of cutter that doesn’t involve my hands and scissors. I used a roll of clear contact paper and a printout from my computer. Not TOO time intensive, I think it worked out pretty well. print it out

trace it & cut (I love how the contact paper has a grid on the back to keep things straight!)

put the stencil on your backing and sponge paint into it. peel off stencil.

5. put it all together

All that was left was to put the glass and backing into the frame—not too bad!

I am planning on putting this in the gallery with a dry-erase marker nearby so people can add their own messages.

I love it!

Linking up to:

Regular Homes & Gardens 4/7

2011-04-07T08:28:00.001-06:00

I am so frustrated with myself I can barely STAND to be me!!

ok—this isn’t my EXACT side mirror—mine is a little more elongated and a pretty blue—but this is the same ‘look’ that seems to be a style I wasn’t exactly going for. This is part of my reality of parking in a narrow 2 car garage. Our garage is not so bad that we have to get a hydraulic lift or anything—just carefully maneuver so that we aren’t opening doors into each others cars.

I am going to blame this guy:

you know—he runs around destroying cars. Apparently he has had it in for my side mirrors for a lllloooonnnggg time.

It would be nice if HE would pay the ridiculous amount to replace and repaint it. $150 to repaint the back of the mirror—really??

Idea List 4/5

2011-04-04T23:14:00.001-06:00

I don’t know about you, but I feel like April has come in on a roller coaster! To start out this week, I am including something that isn’t necessarily ‘crafty’ but it sure is creative!

A Magic Wand Remote Control!! I would seriously consider buying one of these if it weren’t for 2 things—the fighting, and this would be the EASIEST remote to get lost!

Easter Twirl Dress by Peanut to Princess

If you have a twirly girl in your house—you’ll want to check this out!!

box signs @ Primitives by Kathy

--I saw this line @ Kneaders on Saturday—on my gosh are they cute!

Zippered camera strap covers by ZipCoverz

I’ve been seeing these for a bit now—I might have to work on one. Think Mr. CFO would like pink?

Baby Tie Tutorial by Wannabe Crafty

Just in time for Easter—get those little guys looking good!

Now here’s the part where you get to share all your ideas!

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What I am doing—hopefully

2011-04-03T00:06:00.000-06:00

The first weekend in April and October every year are our General Conference weekends. We have 4 2-hour sessions spread over Saturday and Sunday, filled with talks from the general leadership of our church and beautiful music. As a rule, the beginning of April in Utah is always yucky. Usually a combination of wind, rain, sleet, etc. Not the most idea weather to be out in. Still, the warmth and love that I feel from Heavenly Father when I listen to our Prophet (and yours too) testify of Jesus Christ and of my place in his Plan of Happiness—it drives away all thoughts of potentially yucky weather.

Address from 2010 April Conference

Road Trip

2011-04-02T00:39:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I left home bright and early to help my mom make the final drive from CO to her new home in UT.

The 8 hour drive was a good chance to catch up and talk. Up till now we have lived only 2 miles apart it was HARD to find time to chat—or really anything to chat about. When you live in the same small town and are in the same ward (or congregation) at church—nothing is ‘news’. I never really had much I could tell her because by the time I did, my mother-in-law (they’re friends) or another one of her girlfriends would’ve filled her in. I think this separation will give us more of a chance to have ‘news’ to talk about.

I honestly never thought my mom would move to UT, but I am excited for her and hope she enjoys the new adventure. She and my stepdad have bought a house on a mountain—literally on a mountain! If you’re familiar with UT, you’ll know that there’s not much room left in the valleys, so everyone starts moving up! Also, they’re downsizing their home by about 800 square feet. Sometimes I fantasize about downsizing, because that means I would HAVE to get rid of things!! The downsizing isn’t an easy process I know, but I think it will be good.

Dining Room Design Board

2011-04-01T00:18:00.000-06:00

Since the acquisition of our awesome round table—the large rectangle dining set came out to what is supposed to be the dining room. Now I’ve been thinking of re-designing the room. This is the board I compiled.

I would really like to incorporate some wainscoting or a board & batten treatment in this room—along with a lighter wall color. Since the dark wood floors and the dark wood dining set would tend to blend together, we need an area rug under the table. The rug would serve a few functions:

1. break up the space

2. add texture

3. give a place to pull color from when setting out accessories and such.

As this is a formal dining area—not the everyday kids splash-zone—I feel comfortable having a rug.

The drum shade pendant pictured really caught my eye—as the lights seemed to twinkle behind the shade. It is a DIY project featured by Ashley on her blog—definitely a doable project.

The mirror on our far wall will help reflect light—as this tends to be a dark area and needs all the help it can get!

I would like to try drop cloth curtains—or something similar in texture—bleached so that we can have maximum light!

For the accessories I want a variety of styles—altogether I don’t want one specific style throughout the house, I want a good mix—very eclectic and lots of texture.

One of the best parts of this design board is now I can refer back to it!

Regular Homes & Gardens 3/31

2011-03-31T00:52:00.000-06:00

This week I am going to share the REALITY of my neighborhood:

Over a year ago, our across the street neighbors and dear friends had to leave their house and travelled way to the other side of the country hoping to start new. It was sad to see their beautiful home empty and forlorn.

Come summer, we took a massive 14+ day driving family vacation and came home to discover that the house NEXT DOOR to the empty one was now empty TOO! We are a small subdivision, with just over 100 houses and we have 5-6 foreclosures, 4 empty lots, and 5 (?) brand new empty houses. That’s a lot of emptiness going on—too many dead yards, dried up trees, fodder for graffiti and vandalism.

I didn’t plan on staying in this house long-term, this wasn’t supposed to be my ‘forever home’. I can’t complain and say we have outgrown it or that it’s falling apart. The poor house is only 6 years old and the only reason it would be falling apart is because my children +friends run thru like a herd of rampaging rhinos.

Mr. CFO and I have compiled our list of things to do with the house this year—thankfully the basement is on that list! However, many things were left off because we define them as ‘forever home’ projects. Such as replacing all the carpets on the main floor with wood, something I think of fondly, but is it necessary?

It makes me wonder—are you in your ‘forever home’? If you were compelled to stay in your current place forever, what changes would you make?

A Little Monkey Business

2011-03-30T01:26:00.000-06:00

It is Day 1 for Spring Break here. While my kids are busy being lazy—I decided to dig thru the fabric stash and see what could be made:

First I found this cute monkey fabric remnant I picked up a few months back. Then I pulled out leftover coordinating flannel pieces and found a big yellow piece for the back.

The block pattern I came up with was this—it’s pretty basic:

This comes out to be an 8” block—the dotted lines are the seam allowance (1/4”)

Sew small sections to the sides of the middle print—make sure right sides of fabric face each other.

Use a 1/4” seam allowance (be careful because lining up the edge of the fabric with the edge of your presser foot might not give you the correct distance). As you can see I have a pretty wide presser foot.

Press open.

Do the same for the longer strips.

When you have all your blocks assembled {this is a smaller quilt and I only had room for 20} lay them out and play with the arrangement till you’re satisfied.

Now you’re ready to assemble the top!

Once you’re quilt top is all sewn together it’s time to quilt it. I chose to tie this quilt—I started out tying quilts with my mom when I was ~7 or 8. I have a fondness for the finished product—I think the key is to make sure your knots are square knots, not granny knots. That way they don’t become untied easily. Make sure you space the knots no farther than 4” apart.

I always felt bad when I had to stab a cute little monkey.

Once the tying was complete I cut the remainder of my monkey fabric into 2 1/2'” strips for the binding. I personally work from front to back with my bindings, getting the front sewn on, then folding it over and pinning to the back to be sewn the second time. Yes, I have been lazy lately and I have been machine sewing the back instead of hand sewing—but I can do both! I think this is just a matter of preference really.

Here it is all done:

Idea List 3/29

2011-03-29T09:07:00.001-06:00

Girl’s Survival Kit by eighteen25

These are going on the to-make list for SURE—how fun!

Angry Bird Cupcakes by the Crafting Chicks

My family LOOVVVES Angry Birds—I think tis would be a big hit—maybe as an alternative for Easter treats?

Recycled Newspaper Planting Pots by lindycottagehill

Just in time for spring planting (gosh, I sound like a farmer with that!)

Tooth Fairy Door by ThisBlessedNest

I know one little girl who would be over the moon if she had direct access to the TF

Conference Store by A Mama B’s

What a great idea for helping kids pay attention during Conference!

Glider Redo by Just Another Hang Up

I certainly have one of these hanging around that has seen better days.

Now, we’ll try something NEW! If you’ve had a great idea this week, go ahead and link it up here:

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A Tale of 2 Fans

2011-03-28T00:28:00.000-06:00

Since opening my interiors business, I have been stocking up on some supplies. So far my favorite has been the paint fans. Aside from the fact that each paint company has their own line of proprietary colors, you would think that a paint fan would be pretty basic.

Not true!

This is my first deck I got from Sherwin Williams. We have a local store here in our small town and as I am trying to support local businesses more and more these days, I stopped to get one. Here it is in it’s lovely black plastic case, the fan deck is broken up into neutrals, shades, and colors. It has already been useful as I have helped a friend choose a color for her living room and also I was able to color-match what my builder used on my siding. (I think next year might be a repainting year)

Isn’t it so pretty??

The next fan I received came by FedEx. This is the Behr paint fan (sold at Home Depot)

I was pretty impressed with the organization of this fan:

I think this is my favorite part: the neutrals are subdivided—red, yellow, and blue toned neutrals. How cool is that? I only wish it came in a hard case like the SW one, but I can see how that might be a problem….

Which one would you prefer? What paint company is your default?

Ahhh…organization!

2011-03-27T16:04:00.001-06:00

When we walked through the model of our home we were very excited with the closet space. 3 bedrooms have walk-in closets, and the 4th has 2 regular closets. This seemed ideal to me—how could we EVER need more?

*this is all the contents of my closet – taken out in preparation for organization. My room NEVER looks like this!

Fast forward 6 years and I well understood that it’s not the size of the closet, it’s how you use it. We had more than enough space, but not the right organizational tools. I started researching online—we’re talking several hours worth—looking for closet organizational tools. I measured the closet, chose what I wanted in the way of drawers, shelves, hanging rods, etc. The average price was around $1400 for a system that I would install myself. Here are some downsides to what I found:

1. wall-mounted—most of the systems were wall-mounted. I don’t feel comfortable with all the weight being on the wall, I wanted it floor-mounted.

2. floor-mounted—I would have to remove the baseboards and do some cutting. As much as I love the power tools, I am not a pro with them and I didn’t want to damage the house.

3. options—I had measured and drawn out what I needed/wanted for our closet, and I just could not FIND it online. All the DIY products I looked at came in kits or specified sizes—which made it so that I couldn’t make it the way I needed it.

With these concerns, I thought about calling a professional company, just to give an estimate.

A few weeks ago, I had Linda from Closet Factory come out to assess the damage—she was so helpful and reassuring. Turns out that no, I didn’t have to renovate the house to give me more closet space, I just needed a few shelves and some double hanging racks. The benefits of going with them was:

1. floor mounted

2. custom built—to fit our closet

3. lots of options for finishes

4. professional installation

I told Linda our budget—$2000, and she tweaked and finagled everything to come in at budget.

Friday morning I cam back from an appointment and the install guys were in full swing! Within a couple of hours they had my old wire shelves out, holes patched, and the new system in!

Isn’t it so pretty?? My only concern was would everything really fit back in? That would be a resounding YES, with room to spare! Why didn’t we do this from the beginning?

Shhh….it’s a surprise

2011-03-26T00:16:00.000-06:00

I have been coordinating efforts on a project for the past 5 months or so—and I have finally completed my part—can we all say HALLELUJAH!!

This project is supposed to be a big surprise, only a few people know all about it. And honestly I don’t think most people involved read this blog, go I’ll share a little sneak peek:

Even if you can figure out what it is, I guarantee you will still be surprised by it!

Ripped out Baseboards

2011-03-25T11:08:00.001-06:00

There’s a table saw and remnants of my baseboards on the front lawn. In my room this is part of the scene:

Lovely laminate MDF boards.

While in one of my ‘organize the entire house’ moods I took a good look at my room, and I didn’t like what I saw. Unlike J’s closet from yesterday, mine is a NIGHTMARE!! Mostly there’s just a bunch of stuff everywhere and has turned into a place where things get thrown into the back to die.

I did some research, looked online at all sorts of closet organization products—didn’t quite like what I saw. Being the natural designer that I am, I wanted things a certain way. I was perfectly happy with the DIY option, but the choices available just weren’t what I was hoping for.

Mr. CFO gave the green light to have a professional crew come out and install a system. YAY!!

Currently my closet looks like this:

I am so excited! I will post better pictures—and more info when it’s all done.

The install guys gave me a funny look when I came up to spy with the camera.

Regular Homes & Gardens 3/24

2011-03-24T00:35:00.000-06:00

This week we have a great submission from J. This gal is super talented in the paper-crafting area especially. She makes herself out to be ‘not so great’ but really that is the farthest thing from the truth! Check out her space:

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I have a table I got when a friend moved in the corner of my bedroom where I craft, sew and create. It is small, but seems to work alright for now. I like this set-up because my stamp pads, scissors etc. are all within reach and I can see my TV when I am sitting here. I used to put my sewing machine away in it's spot in the closet, but then realized that I should just leave it out, it's always out anyway.

I store all my paper and rubber stamps and other supplies in my closet. With all my "stuff", it's a good thing I'm not a clothes horse! I have always dreamed of having another craft room, but this works until one of my kids move out. Everyone needs a place to "create" right? And this is one (and maybe the only) spot in my house that is just mine!!

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I am LOVING all that beautiful storage—it makes me want to dig in and play! Thanks to J for participating this week.

Do What You LOVE

2011-03-23T22:06:00.001-06:00

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. ~Confucius

I will admit that I have been a little less involved here the past couple of weeks. The project I have been working on didn’t involve paint, or furniture, or fabric. Recently I have been having some deep soul-searching conversations with myself. After the recent revelation of my ‘normality’ I really got to thinking about what I want to do with my life. What is it that I truly LOVE to do. What can I not get enough of? If I had to do one thing forever, what would I never get tired of? What do I have a passion for and strong opinions about?

Interior Decorating

I won’t get on my soapbox about all of this, I will just let you go surf around my new website.

Click on the image to check it out.

Transitions

2011-03-23T00:26:00.000-06:00

The other day I was looking at my crafting area and thinking:

Am I using all of this stuff?

Is there really any more room on my project list?

How is this STASH really helping me?

Mr. CFO and I were able to tackle the garage over the weekend while it was nice out. Finally we can walk in there again and make it all the way to the back door. As a result, lots of things were put in the big green ‘storage’ bin. You know the one—with a hinged lid and wheels. Among the debris a half-finished project emerged. Mr. CFO asked: Do you still want this?

Hmm…good question. Of COURSE I still want it. I want to finish all of my projects, I want to be Super-Crafty-Project-Woman who can upcycle ANYTHING with the wave of a hand.

That’s not reality though. Sometimes you have to admit that you’re not going to finish projects, that you never were. Sometimes hobbies that you thought were PERFECT for you, turn out not to be.

It was hard, tears were threatening—and Mr. CFO was really sweet about the whole thing, but the project got put into LONG TERM STORAGE.

Rachel over at Small Notebook wrote a post about this recently, you can catch it here.

Idea List 3/22

2011-03-22T10:01:00.001-06:00

Ooh—do I have some goodies and eye candy for you today!

This makes me think of a dorm room—how perfect for a kids bedroom! Built-in desk, shelves, etc.!

http://www.katieridder.com/

Do you find yourself waking up at night brimming with ideas—or better yet, right as you’re about to fall asleep, you have a ‘vision’ of some fantastic project? This has been happening to me a LOT lately, so when I saw these dream journals over at thecraftingchicks I felt they were perfect!

Pom Pom Sheep

Someone at the library had made these a couple weeks ago and there was a veritable flock gamboling around through a display of books. Adorable!

Oatmeal Brownie Strawberry Shortcake

I am going to save these for one of my ‘bad’ days when I throw caution to the wind and eat all the things I’m intolerant to. Or, I might be a REALLY nice mom and just make them for my kids.

Pirates!!

now THIS is what I call a good use of empty TP tubes! This didn’t take TONS of expensive supplies, it would be a fun project for any age—seriously. My kids aren’t afraid to be kids—my middle school-er was running around in the play-place @ Chik-fil-A last night. And no, he’s not anywhere near ‘small for his age’. Someday I’m going to have to dress my kids up as pirates for Halloween.

Oilcloth Binder Cover

This is a modern take on those padded scrapbook binders we used to make—please someone say they made those too! I like that this is reuseable AND it repels all the little ‘oops’ things that happen to binders.

Fabric Shoelaces

Oh my stinkin’ heck—how did I not KNOW about these gals before???

Sara & Sarah are HE-LARRY-US!! Check them out when you have time and want to be inspired, I like this idea as a stash buster—always looking for that! Plus, if you have seen me personally, you’ve seen my funky shoes. I have a passion for shoes with personality. This would fit the bill. All I need now are some Converse shoes—or similar.

Spring Wreath

No, I still haven’t made a wreath for my front door—other things keep creeping in! This is another idea—and I DO like forsythia.

Mobile Herb Garden

On the subject of gardening, Mr. CFO and I have been discussing what to do with the garden this year—I always have grandiose visions of what it could be…but it doesn’t turn out to be.

That’s it for this week’s idea list, hope you found some inspiration!

Homes I Drive By

2011-03-18T07:27:00.000-06:00

There are a few homes that I regularly see in my small community that I absolutely LOVE. I thought I would share them with you. In order to do this I drove slowly past each house, taking pictures. I’m sure the owners/neighbors were REALLY thrilled about that.

This one is right around the corner from where we have piano lessons. It’s in a pretty new subdivision, but somehow looks completely different from all the other houses. I especially love the side view here—those shutters are just darling!

The second of my favorite local homes is this beauty—you should see it in spring, with all the flowers in bloom and the trees with their beautiful leaves. There’s nothing fancy about the style, but it gives me a feeling of peace and contentment every time I see it. Maybe that has to do with the porch, or how symmetrical it is.

This last house isn’t really a beauty—it’s a study in possibilities. This is the remains of what used to be a large feed-lot property. (Before I moved here 6+ years ago) The silos are gone, the land is covered by weeds and ‘natural grasses’ and this house sits alone. Mr. CFO says its still there just as something to hold up the sale sign. I can’t help but imagine a different life for the little lilac house.

Do you have a favorite house (or 3) in your town?

I am SO excited!!

2011-03-17T22:17:00.000-06:00

Earlier today (or yesterday night??) I was perusing Craigslist when I saw this beauty:

I know the picture is fuzzy—but it’s the one from the listing. If I haven’t mentioned this before, I have 4 wonderful kids and I have been looking for about 5 years for a round table that would fit us all. 2 main reasons are:

1. It would fit in my kitchen better

2. I feel it would promote better conversation

The price that was listed was RIDICULOUS—because it is such a steal! I emailed the owner twice since I hadn’t heard anything back, and finally he replied and said OK, since he was the one who priced it so low. Mr. CFO is good with this change, which is always a plus. Now, to get it all back here. I think it’s going to take 2 trips.

The big question is: how should I refinish it? You know it MUST be refinished.

Regular Homes & Gardens

2011-03-17T11:02:00.001-06:00

Sorry this is posted so late in the day! This week we have Ashley from Achieving Domestic Bliss—she is quite the creative gal, and I know you’re going to have fun getting to know her.

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Hi, I’m Ashley from the AchievingDomesticBliss blog. I’m excited to be over here posting at Alison’s for Regular Homes & Gardens. After much deliberation, I decided to feature my Dining Room. When we were looking at houses, I knew that I wanted to have a Dining Room; the house we ended up purchasing has a great one. But I never realized just how much we would use it!

We found a gorgeous black table on clearance that we knew would be perfect for the space. Normally, I like to keep the table “set” and looking like we’re ready for company; this effectively prevents me from stacking junk, papers, boxes, mail, etc. on the table. It also achieves a little bit of that “Model Home” feel that appeals so much ;}

But, when I need to, I can easily “unmake” it, and use it as a great workstation! Projects such as making Etsy orders, painting doors and trim for the house, counting Boxtops for school, anything! We also play games there with family all the time.

And when the event or project is done, it’s easily put back together again! Since the table seats 12, we get the honor of hosting family dinners, Thanksgiving, and big get-togethers a lot – I love it! Also, because you cannot see the kitchen from the dining room, I can always feel good about having company over for dinner – even if it’s last minute – regardless of the mess that is always in the kitchen.

My Dining Room certainly isn’t perfect. It still has a lot of work to be done before I can call it Complete. Things to accomplish in the future:

· Paint my mismatched chairs black

· Refinish the buffet in black

· Paint shelf trim black

· Sew a black & white table runner for the buffet

· Touch up red wall paint

Wish me luck!

Idea List

2011-03-15T01:28:00.000-06:00

I know you’ve all been waiting for this week’s Idea List!!

(BH&G)

I am SERIOUSLY considering this—as I get closer and closer to having a craft room again.

Trixie Scraps designs

The colors are just so fresh and NOW and are talking to me…definitely talking to me.

Random Thoughts of a Supermom

I might have to bend the ‘no waffles on a school-day’ rule this week—doesn’t this just bring a smile to your face?

I know—short list today—but some weeks are like that.

Jewel Box

2011-03-14T13:00:00.001-06:00

I had been reading in “Renovation Style” yesterday about a ‘Jewel Box’ home. If you’re wondering what a Jewel Box home is, I will explain:

A Jewel Box home (or space really) is a small space (usually under 2000 sq. ft) that packs some serious WOW-factor in design-wise. The classification comes down to the details. When I think of a Jewel Box, these are some details that come to mind:

Barrel-Vaulted Ceiling

Detailed Woodwork

(image courtesy Vintage Seattle.org)

High Quality Furnishings

(image courtesy ProvidenceLTDDesign)

all within a intimate setting

(image courtesy paulaloe on flickr)

I believe realtors would describe it as ‘cozy’.

Nothing is ‘builder-grade’ or standard. Everything is custom because you are really making the space your little nest.

The benefits of living ‘jewel box’ style are many:

1. get away from the “Jones” mentality of bigger=better, must out-do the neighbors thing (consequently my grandmother was a Jones and I do love my Jones-relations)

2. increases family ‘bonding’ time. When we moved into the ‘dream house’ my youngest was 2 and at times she couldn’t find me in the house. Last night the 5 year old still couldn’t find me. Yes, sometimes I want to escape or hide, but is that what family is all about? (don’t answer that)

3. financially it’s more beneficial to have a smaller home—you’ll pay it off faster, it costs less to heat/cool/etc.

4. when you’re in a smaller space you don’t have the option of bringing in so much clutter. You could try, but in a short amount of time I think you would end up featured on an episode of Hoarders.

With a Jewel Box home, the classification is in the details. When you live in that manner, you recognize that the beauties of life are in the details as well.

Now my thoughts are: can I turn my large cookie-cutter traditional wannabe home into a jewel box? Does anyone even want to live like that anymore? If I made the changes and we needed to move, could we?

and most importantly…

how fast will Mr. CFO say “Not a chance!” ?

Regular Homes & Gardens

2011-03-10T00:24:00.000-07:00

This week we get to take a peek into K’s home to see her approach to décor.

I went to a class on decorating your home once and the presenter encouraged us to decorate with the people and the places that mean the most to us. So
I have tons of pictures of my kids, me and my hubs, and my family all over my house. We have also traveled to a lot of fun places foreign and domestic...lol...and we always try to buy art or some other kind of decorative thing to decorate with. That way I'm always reminded of my
family and the good times we've had together in fun places. :)

I love that you can tell when you walk into her home that her focus in life is her family! Plus I like looking at other peoples pictures. Thanks for sharing K!

ENFP

2011-03-09T07:23:00.001-07:00

No, that’s not a new way of spelling ‘enough’. Although, that might be how ds3 would spell it—but he’s in Kindergarten.

ENFP stands for Extroverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceptive. The whole self-analysis was very eye opening from the start. Why? Mostly because I thought I was an introvert!

I’ll wait for the laughing to stop there…

It seems I have been living as an introvert (I am married to a STRONG introvert) for a LONG time now, and I have become confused. After reading and really thinking about the qualities I started to see the light:

People who prefer extraversion draw energy from action: they tend to act, then reflect, then act further. If they are inactive, their motivation tends to decline. To rebuild their energy, extraverts need breaks from time spent in reflection. Conversely, those who prefer introversion expend energy through action: they prefer to reflect, then act, then reflect again. To rebuild their energy, introverts need quiet time alone, away from activity.

The extravert's flow is directed outward toward people and objects, and the introvert's is directed inward toward concepts and ideas. Contrasting characteristics between extraverts and introverts include the following:

Extraverts are action oriented, while introverts are thought oriented.
Extraverts seek breadth of knowledge and influence, while introverts seek depth of knowledge and influence.
Extraverts often prefer more frequent interaction, while introverts prefer more substantial interaction.
Extraverts recharge and get their energy from spending time with people, while introverts recharge and get their energy from spending time alone.

Mind you, I am not an extreme Extravert, that last one—I can definitely use some down-alone-time (like when I am reading), but this has so made me feel normal.

Idea List

2011-03-08T00:16:00.000-07:00

Toddler Maxi Dress and Shrug @ Cat on a Limb

The best part about this cute ensemble—Catherine is doing step by step tutorials for the outfit this week!! If you’ve been thinking about Easter outfits for a little gal in your life—check it out.

Lucky Clover Specimen Art @ Flamingo Toes

The best part of this—it’s all hand-cut. I think she deserves a Silhouette for this one, don’t you? *I wouldn’t say no to one either*

You Get poster @ Becky Higgins

I think I need one of these in EVERY room of my house!

Button Monogram Pillow @ Letter Perfect Designs

I have been thinking about pillows—the question is how to sneak more into the house…ooh—maybe for Christmas presents??? Oh sisters dear…any thoughts?

Floral Container @ Tracy’s Trinkets Treasures

My door is feeling really naked right now…I am going to have to remedy that. Soon.

Easy St. Pat’s Décor @ It Matters

I think I could manage that. Maybe.

Thrifty Ways

2011-03-07T13:49:00.001-07:00

Reading thru blogs last week I happened upon a fun new find: Snickerdoodle . As I have been knitting more and more, the biggest obstacle seems to be budget. I found a skein of aqua bamboo blend yarn on clearance for $2.49 last year—and I hesitate to use it b/c I know that should I need more—the price of ~$4.00/skein is pretty dear. Especially when I would need 10 skeins or more to complete a project.

Enter the idea from Steph at Snickerdoodle—”Yarn Harvesting”. Buying a gently used luxury yarn sweater and then unraveling it. Yes, there’s a bit of time involved—but really—it’s been quite fun and cathartic in ways. I would unravel something that a machine made—or someone else made, than have to unravel my own work, yesiree.

Last week I headed into town and picked up 11 sweaters:

Hmm—I’m missing a couple of pictures. Oh well. The brown wool v-neck I have decided to keep for myself and I’m wearing today. It’s such a yucky day outside, and that sweater looked so cozy and inviting!! All the rest will be harvested.

First, a cotton blend:

Second, a apple green silk cotton blend from Chicos (not pictured above)

Thirdly, a soft gray lambswool blend (also not pictured above):

I am excited by the prospect of all the projects I can complete with this yarn. The green silk has so far yielded over 1200 yards, and I still have a large ball to measure out. I love the bumpy texture—it will knit up fine and won’t look weird—but its fun to play with. :)

Regular Homes & Gardens

2011-03-03T08:31:00.002-07:00

Today Melissa over at The Inspired Room shared a ‘non-staged’ image of part of her house:

To me—this image says “Happy Home”—with the stuffed animals strewn about and a fort or sort being built out of pillows…. I know that this isn’t the ideal for when guests come over—but this is real life here, right?

Feeling Seuss-y

2011-03-02T11:56:00.001-07:00

For those of you who don’t know, today is the birthday of Dr. Seuss

Yesterday was my dd’s class celebration, and I went in at the end of the day to read a book. As I sat in the rocking chair looking at a carpet full of 2nd graders (and their teacher) I realized how much Dr. Seuss has become part of our daily dialogue. We might not be familiar with all 46 of his books, but I’m sure we could all pick out one or two.

One of my faves is the story of the Sneetches—and their obsession with “stars upon thars” (or the lack of). When I asked ds2 if we should do something fun for today this was his response:

“I’m not eating green eggs and ham! Anything green is poisonous!”

Instead, I thought I’d share some fun crafts I have come across:

Thing 1 & Thing 2 cupcakes

Finger Puppets

Green Eggs

I wonder what type of chicken these came from?

Pencil Toppers

If you’re into the whole trophy-head thing, check these out!

Are you doing anything to celebrate?

Idea List

2011-03-01T10:03:00.000-07:00

fun glass hurricanes

think of all the cute things you could put in here to accessorize.

Fridge Frames (I was thinking ‘what if’ I had a magnetic wall and I could put these up to frame out all the kids art and such)

Sweet Stitched Love-Note

Board and Batten Wall

What project ideas have come upon you this week?

If your project is on here, grab a blinkie!

The Month-long Project

2011-02-28T00:02:00.000-07:00

When I started this project, I had high expectations of a fast job. Not one of the blogs I ever saw said ANYTHING about stain taking a week to dry, making multiple trips to Home Depot, or spray primer going EVERYWHERE!

Never-the-less, I jumped in with both feet—like I usually do. Before the railing looked like this: Honey colored oak that seemed to get more yellow over the years (as polyurethane will). After 6 years it needed refinishing—Mr. CFO agreed that this was a project for me.

It started with sanding the rail and base with 3 grades of sandpaper. Then came the stain, I chose Jacabean.

The kids got used to me reminding them “Don’t touch the railing!” I did learn that extra fine grade steel wool is GREAT for finish sanding. The high gloss was a great finishing touch as it brought out the depth of the color.

Do you like my new St. Patrick’s day decorations? Just kidding.

We I decided to prime the rails with spray primer. Wow does that stuff travel. It looked like a bag of flour had exploded in the house. Thankfully it cleaned up fast.

After a couple coats of paint and a month the project was done—and I breathe a great sigh of relief.

Don’t forget to check out my Regular Homes & Gardens series on Thursdays (always looking for submissions) and the Idea List on Tuesdays!

Basic Sock Pattern—Child

2011-02-24T23:49:00.001-07:00

After my PiF socks, little guy BEGGED for pink socks. I started a pair, then realized I really couldn’t make him pink socks. I just COULDN’T!! I found a nice glossy skein of orange baby yarn that I could live with instead. After I finished the first sock, he put it on and walked around with one sock on for the rest of the day. Then he snuggled with it at night—I am not kidding. He’s a funny kid.

Here is my first ‘go’ at a tutorial. This is written for someone who has NEVER made a sock before. I also have step by step pictures that describe my favorite technique—the short row heel. My disclaimers:

1. I am not a ‘gauge’ person (I know I should be beaten with scratchy yarn!)

2. This is my first tutorial—the pictures are taken while I was riding in the car (Mr. CFO was driving) Friday evening and Saturday morning last week. Finishing up was at home Saturday night, thus the bad lighting.

3. My eyes are starting to cross b/c I’m so tired—so if things look weird, I apologize.

4. If you just want a good child sock/adult sock formula—go to the bottom.

Basic Sock Knitting Tutorial (sized for child)

Materials needed:

Size 3 double pointed needles (dpns)

1 skein worsted weight yarn (or use 2 strands of dk or baby/sport weight yarn like I did)

Tapestry needle

Directions:

Cast on 36 stitches on 3 needles (12 stitches per needle) using a long-tail cast on.

Work in Knit 1, Purl 1 (k1p1) rib stitch for 10 rows.

Switch to Stockinette Stitch (knit only) for 20 rows.

Rearrange stitches onto 2 needles (18 on each). We’ll refer to them as needle 1 and needle 2.

Short Row Heel

Now we are going to work on the heel, and you’ll only be working on one needle. Knit across needle 1, and then we’ll focus on needle 2. Knit 17 stitches as usual, and then wrap the last stitch.

Start by holding the last stitch on the needle

bring the working yarn to the front. wrap working yarn around the free stitch.

Flip work around so you’re looking at the ‘wrong’ side, finish the wrapping.

Working the back side of needle 2, purl the last knit ( “live”) stitch, purl across row until you have 1 stitch left.

Wrap the purl stitch just as you did on the opposite side, with yarn to the front, wrap around the free stitch,

flip work so you’re looking at the front side of needle 2,

and then knit the ‘live’ stitch.

Knit back across the front of needle 2, till you get to the last ‘live’ stitch

Wrap that last ‘live’ stitch.

You will continue working in this manner on needle 2, making the last ‘live’ stitch wrapped on each side until you have 7 wrapped stitches on each side, and 4 ‘live’ stitches in the middle. It will look like this (on one side):

Now, when you work across the row, instead of decreasing the number of live stitches, you will start increasing them.

If you use the above picture as an example, you’ll knit across the row till you get to wrap #1 there—knit that back into being a ‘live’ stitch, and wrap #2 again. Turn and do the same across the back, continue in this pattern until all the wrapped stitches are live stitches. When you’re done it will look like this:

The side view shows all those wrapped stitches.

You can see here on these 2 needles that there are some big gaps on the sides. Those need to be tightened up! (for some reason photoshop kept cropping the “G” ??)

How we’re going to fix that is by adding a couple of stitches. First, redivide the 18 stitches along needle 2 in half. Now you will have needles 1, 2, and 3 again. 18 stitches on needle 1, 9 stitches on needle 2, and 9 stitches on needle 3.

You are going to pick up 2 stitches at the beginning of needle 2 and at the end of needle 3. That will be a total of 11 stitches on each of them.

See—plenty of room to pick up a couple of stitches. On adult socks I’ll pick up 3 stitches on each side, but since these are little, I only need to do 2.

Look—no more gaps!

As nice as this is, we’re not quite done. We have to get back to our original 36 stitches. Which means decreasing. But first, knit a row even—which means across all 3 needles—regular knitting.

Decrease Row: needle 2: knit 1, knit 2 together, knit 8 (total of 10 stitches)

Needle 3: knit 8, knit 2 together, knit 1 (10 stitches again)

Knit a row even

Repeat Decrease row: needle 2: knit 1, knit 2 together, knit 7

Needle 3: knit 7, knit 2 together, knit 1

You are done decreasing for now, and you’ve completed the short row heel, yeah!

Foot of Sock

Work in Stockinette stitch (knit only) for the length of the foot.

Knit till you are 1 ½ inches away from your desired length.

I know you’re so impressed with my exactness.

When you are to this point, its time to work the decrease rows for the toe. Here’s how it works, you will do a decrease row every OTHER row. So decrease odd rows, knit regular on even rows.

Needle 1: knit 1, knit 2 together, knit to last 3 stitches,

knit 2 together, knit 1.

Needle 2: Knit 1, knit 2 together, knit

Needle 3: knit to last 3 stitches, knit 2 together, knit 1

Knit even

Continue in this pattern until you have 16 stitches: 8 on needle 1, 4 each on needles 2 & 3.

Rearrange the stitches so they’re on 2 needles again.

Now it’s time to sew up the toe. I know it sounds painful, but really it’s not.

Cut about a 9” tail of yarn for sewing up the toe. Thread a nice big plastic yarn needle. (We’re playing it safe here) Start sewing back and forth across the two needles, thru the stitches.

Do this across both needles that the same time, pull yarn firmly so that it tightens up nicely. We don’t want any toes peeking out!

Weave the yarn in a bit to secure it, then cut off the extra.

And here’s the finished sock. Now all you have to do is make another one.

Formula:

Child: using worsted on size 3 dpns, cast on 36 stitches, short row heel will have 7 wrapped stitches on each side, finished toe should have 8 stitches.

Adult: using dk yarn on size 1 or 2 dpns, cast on 60 stitches, short row heel will have 12 wrapped stitches on each side, finished toe should have 12 stitches.

Cuff length is up to you. Happy knitting, hope you enjoyed the tutorial.

Regular Homes and Gardens

2011-02-24T09:18:00.002-07:00

Sorry this is a bit late being posted today, I was hoping someone else would be brave enough to play along….(hint, hint) but I guess not this week.
This week I am going to share with you pictures of what our house looked like before we came in and went crazy:
This was a weekend tour we took of the house a month before it was finished and we moved in. The walls were white, the trim was un-dinged, the carpeting wasn’t even in. There were so many possibilities—the house was a complete blank slate. Within 6 months of moving in I had already started painting the walls and planning out all sorts of ‘improvements’. We had a LONG list of things that ‘needed’ to be done to the house—such as crown molding, window sills, window treatments, landscaping, etc. I didn’t know if we would ever finish that list.
Last fall I came across it again in my closet—tucked away somewhere on a shelf. Everything on the list had been crossed off.
What do we do now? In our married life we have never lived in a house this long. I don’t think I’ve ever lived in one place this long EVER.
Mr. CFO and I have discussed moving. He wants more ‘space’ from the neighbors, and I think I’m just itching for a change. We don’t want to leave the area though, we like our schools, we love our church, we have lots of friends…so we came up with a NEW list. It is 20+ items long, not as big as it’s predecessor, but long enough.

Curtain Rods

2011-02-23T00:49:00.000-07:00

One of the last things I did when finishing our front room was work on the window treatments. We lived with the faux wood blinds for 5 years before I got my fanny in action. I wanted nice wood rods, but those can be a bit spendy. Fortunately I am what you might refer to as ‘creative’ (the terms ‘procrastinator’, ‘bookworm’, and ‘stubborn’ I’m sure also fit me very well) and decided no way was I going to pay retail prices for a set of 3 nice curtain rods. I found exactly what I wanted at the nearby hardware store:

Long 1 1/2” dowel rods.

The length they came in was perfect for my windows, so I didn’t have to cut them down at all. At first I had planned on making small stationary panels, so I HAD done all the cutting, etc—but that didn’t work out and I went back and bought 3 more.

Screw on finials:

Brackets:

Ring Clips:

and Spray Stain:

1. drill a hole in the end of your dowel rods (for the finials)

2. spray stain the rods. I also used the stain on the curtain rings as they were a pewter-type of silver and I wanted them darker. It worked great as you can see. Let everything dry. (I know—obvious)

3. put the rings on the rod, screw on finials

4. mount the brackets on the wall

5. hang curtain rod

6. clip up curtains

The best part of this project is that you can’t even tell that the rods are DIY, they look like the $40 ones from the catalog, when really it was much less:

dowel rod: $5

finial: $4 for the pair on clearance

rings: $8.00 (a couple of sets on clearance)

bracket: $6 (?) for the pair

stain: $5ish

This project didn’t require any special talents—mostly the ability to operate a drill and a can of spray paint.

Idea List

2011-02-22T09:28:00.003-07:00

These are images that made it to the idea list this week:

I am so sorry I can’t find the reference for these 2 images—I am looking at the built-in in the 1st picture for our library, and also the table-countertop piece in the 2nd picture for our library. It would be a FANTASTIC work-station for the kids.

I LOVE this idea—especially if it’s a family project where everyone could contribute. The Crafting Chicks

How fun would these be for Easter?? Blue Cricket Design

I have a canvas that has been sitting waiting for me to have some time/inspiration. I’m getting close.

Can you tell that I’m under some insane delusion that I live in a farmhouse? Ballard Designs
That’s my top inspiration lately. I am also on the lookout for a project to do with the crafty ladies at church. I have agreed to lead March’s crafting day.

If you see yourself in this post, please grab a blinkie:

Cleaning Party

2011-02-21T09:08:00.000-07:00

Today, as it is President’s Day (no school), all the ‘helpers’ are at home. We announced last night that at precisely 10:00am today the cleaning party would start.

I have high hopes, but in reality I know this is how it will be:

Dresser Re-do

2011-02-18T00:50:00.000-07:00

I have been on the look-out for a dresser for my daughter for a while. She has been using my sister’s old childhood one for a while. The lines are cute, we repainted it and all, but the drawers don’t slide all that nice, and it only has 4 drawers. If you have a daughter, you KNOW 4 drawers isn’t going to cut it.

I found a listing nearby for a ‘tall’ dresser for $25. It was a nice basic style, they said the drawers slid well, etc. I went to look and made the snap decision it was coming home! Then it sat in the living room for a couple of weeks because it was too cold to paint out in the garage. Thankfully, this week’s warm-up gave the the opportunity to get out and get it done:

There was a bit of veneer lifting off at the bottom on one of the sides, but a little woodglue and some clamps fixed that right up. Of course my before pictures are after I pulled out the drawers and took off hardware. I was just so excited to get working on it first thing in the morning!

Notice the picture she’s drawn of what it should look like—blue with purple flowers and butterflies all over. I was up for the blue, but I think I’ll try to find some vinyl butterflies and such.

First I primed it with some spray primer, also the hardware—went on so fast!

Second, I rolled it with about 3 thin coats of Deepest Aqua from Glidden (I had gotten a free quart of it)

Third, spray with a clear gloss spray to seal it all.

Fourth, sprayed all the hardware glossy white.

Thanks to the nice warm temps the drying time was minimal and I sailed right thru this project. The dresser went upstairs right about the time my daughter got home from school and she was so happy to put her clean clothes away.

Not exactly what I would call a ‘tall’ dresser, but it is just perfect for her.

Today I am participating in the following link parties:

Regular Homes & Gardens

2011-02-17T00:15:00.001-07:00

This week we’ll be looking at my SiL Kim’s house. If you haven’t seen her blog Lovelihood, you so need to. Kim is a talented writer, has a love of run-on sentences, is a super crafty gal, and an awesome mom! I love how she and Mr. New Media have made their house work for them:

This room was designated the master bedroom, which really just means it's the largest bedroom in the house. We decided it would better serve us by being the all-purpose work/craft-room. The french doors are the obvious favorite feature, but we really love everything about this space. The sewing table clears off easily for whatever craft project I've got brewing with Boy. I quickly sewed some velcro onto some yardage of polar fleece I had around, and attached it to the bottom of the table to make a little cave for the kids. I love when Bear crawls in there and flips through the books or curls up on the blankets and pillows in there. Usually, though, it's both kids in there wrestling for dominance. I use the wall space to hang my dressed up cork boards and chalkboard-painted clipboards. It makes for busy, but very happy, walls. Our desk is narrow and long (thank you, Ikea) and fits the two of us (plus kids climbing onto our laps) comfortably. It took us six months living here to figure out where to house all our books in the house. All the walls were accounted for. But it occurred to me one day that we could put up a wall of shelving and just put our desk up right against it. I love how this works for us. It makes for extra spots to put water glasses while we're working, and since the shelves are adjustable, we were able to tuck surge protectors and cords and cables into a narrow shelf just behind the desk. There used to be an old eMac on a kiddie-sized table in the corner, but that stopped working. So we brought in a big comfy lounge chair, and now it's just a cozy little spot to relax in. All in all, it's a much happier space the way we use it than if we'd decided to use it as a bedroom.
Just seeing those pictures has me itching to visit! Thanks Kim for playing along. We both are anxious to see who is going to submit photos for next week!

Pay it Forward

2011-02-16T00:57:00.001-07:00

I finished a PiF just in time for Valentines Day. These cozy socks went to Angela who had signed up for my Pay it Forward challenge. When I saw this yarn in the store I KNEW exactly who it was going to, and how I’d make it. Do projects ever talk to you like that? I hope its not just me having fabric and yarn talking to them in the store…
I have decided to attempt a sock knitting tutorial—I have had a lot of funny looks from people thinking I’m super talented or something for being able to manage multiple needles at once, but really it’s no big deal once you know how to do it. I can’t post it right now, as I need to work thru a pair of socks in order to take pictures, etc. However it WILL be coming soon!

Important Decisions

2011-02-15T15:44:00.001-07:00

My self-declared position as head child-wrangler/home-manager around here is fraught with turmoil. I have to make life-changing decisions every day.

Life CHANGING.

Really I do.

Take for instance the most recent decision on what type of kitchen towels to buy. As I have a house full of spillers and drippers and slobberers (ds claims that its the braces that make him more drool-ey) I find that there is a great need for absorbency. My first choice of towel turned out to be an outright disaster! These things did NOT live up to the title of ‘towel’. “Decorative piece of woven cloth” would’ve been a better description. While the offensive items were in the house we had unending frustration when trying to dry hands, dishes, mop up spills, etc. Cleaning up a cup of spilled juice was no longer a little thing, it was a huge monumental task to undertake—which caused me to be cranky. Mr. CFO wasn’t any better, and I could tell he was doubting my decision-making skills.

We can’t have that, can we?

You see—LIFE CHANGING DECISIONS!!!

This weekend, the towels were replaced, with REAL towels. Peace and tranquility are once again in our home.

What LCDs have you been about this week?

Valentines Scramble

2011-02-14T12:56:00.001-07:00

For some unknown reason I was under the assumption that Feb 14th would be Tuesday (tomorrow). It wasn’t until Friday afternoon that I was forcibly reminded that no, Valentines Day was Monday, and I had not prepared for kid’s class activities at all. As we had guests this past weekend I wasn’t sure of what to do, when to do it, etc.

Thankfully I had been blog surfing and was given the idea to make and print out my own Valentine designs. Also, I only had to make 2 designs as my oldest children have decided that they are too old to do the whole valentines thing.

My daughter therefore headed off to school today with this:

She specified that she wanted a pink dog valentine as her class has been reading “Because of Winn Dixie”. I thought it turned out pretty cute!

For my little guy I wanted something more boy-ish. (When he saw his sister’s design he was REALLY jealous and stated that he wanted pink dog valentines too!) I came up with these:

Simple, but boyish. I think he’s happy with them. More likely he is happy with the thought of all the candy that is attached to the cards. Little guy told me on the way to school today that he would save all the valentines from his bag for me. (I’m sure it will be sans candy)

If you’d like to use either of these, feel free to. Just right-click on the image and choose the ‘Save As’ option.

Temptation

2011-02-11T09:33:00.001-07:00

Temptation, thy name is remnants!

Whenever I am in a store that carries fabric, I am helplessly drawn to the remnant bin. There’s something about the neatly rolled bundles of fabric that just gives me a little shiver of pleasure.

Do I know what I will be using them for? Not a clue—but they’re so satisfyingly pretty!

Regular Homes and Gardens

2011-02-10T12:09:00.001-07:00

I think its time for a reality check here. I will be the first to admit that I LOVE home design and décor. I ooh and aah over new trends and styles and of course want to make my house look JUST LIKE THAT ONE!! Or better yet, “Can we trade houses?”

This isn’t real though.

The hazard of reading magazines and blogs devoted to home décor and style is that we feel a sense of letdown and discontent with our own homes. We look around and say “why can’t my house look like that?” “Why can’t I have white couches and carpeting that stays pristine?” This sense of dissatisfaction is NOT healthy for ourselves or our families.

Several of these home bloggers do a ‘keeping it real’ post every now and then and show how life REALLY happens in their home. I think those are the best posts. In an effort to help us all ‘keep it real’ I wanted to start a new weekly feature here at StashHappy called “Regular Homes and Gardens” where I will share photos and descriptions of real homes. No model homes or staged homes allowed.

To kick it off, I will start with my house.

We have lived in this house since May of 2005, we moved in with 3 children and soon after added #4. What was supposed to be my ‘craft room’ was instead identified as the ‘nursery’. Since that time we realized that whereas the builder put in plenty of oversize bedrooms and living rooms, the kitchen is a bit small for a family of 6, and I have come to have strong convictions about the redundancy of multiple ‘living rooms’.

My favorite place in the house would have to be the loft. Upstairs (where an optional 5th bedroom could be) we have a nicely lit loft area. It has 2 purposes—as a crafting area that I now share with my daughter (see her sewing machine over there?)

and as the ‘library’ where we have FHE, personal scripture time in the morning, and family scripture and prayer time in the evening. It drives Mr. CFO NUTS that it is usually a total disaster area! I always have a project (or 5) in the works, and the kids have books, socks, and blankets usually strewn around. The hodge podge of furniture has been rearranged multiple times, and I am sure will be so again, but that’s ok.

If you would like to be a contributor to the Regular Homes and Gardens feature, here’s the guidelines:

2 pictures of your home or garden:

a. your favorite place (and why)

b. showing how your family uses common space--like kitchen or family room (images of blurry children running around is quite acceptable)

Write something about how your home is an extension of you and your family, how you've tweaked it to make things work better, etc.

I was planning on having this be mostly anonymous--in case you are hesitant to show the world the interior of your home. If you want your name revealed please let me know. Absolutely clean & decluttered & decorated houses are NOT required, this is real-life we're talking about here. You can send submissions to me using my contact info in the sidebar under “Contact Me”—subject: Regular Homes and Gardens submission.

Thanks for playing along!

*as a sidenote before I post, I invited several friends to participate and I’m getting a lot of fear in response. I will admit first off that my loft does NOT look how I want it to at all, it is definitely a work in progress—barely started even. Don’t be afraid, be anonymous.

Living Where You Live

2011-02-09T09:37:00.000-07:00

Last month Emily (of Jones Design Co.) wrote a great article about Living Where You Live. This really got me thinking-I even sent Mr. CFO the article to read. So often I think I decorate my home to someone else’s standard. I let others’ expectations and tastes sway my design choices. Now, I LOVED what she did with her kitchen, but really that isn’t going to happen in my house. However, I have started researching and reading a bit more, trying to exactly pin down what I want my home to be. One thing from the article that really spoke to me was:

*We love where we live, but we don’t feel like it is our ‘forever’ home. So in the back of my mind, the term ‘resale value’ is always lingering when these crazy ideas pop up. And if it isn’t ‘resale value’ it’s the thought that I should just wait until we are in a house that is our dream home and then I can really make it ours.

That sounds like us to a “T”! More than any style I adopt, I want or home to be clean, welcoming, and inviting. Plus, I want to feel at home in my house, safe, relaxed. To accomplish this I may be walking the fine line of ‘style’—who knows. In the ensuing discussion with the CFO, I talked about how the ‘decorating police’ aren’t going to come to our house, and about how we can take risk—it’s OK, etc.

As I embark upon projects within my home I know that Mr. CFO is cringing at the thought of changes, and I know that I am not perfect in my technique. Mr. CFO’s question at then end of our conversation was: “Where does it end? You’re going to want to gut the house!” I promised not to tear down walls, flip the house sideways, or install a giant lift-up garage door on the front of the house--I don’t think the HOA would like that.

I do believe that I have lived in this house long enough, that a some ‘freshening’ is in order. A woman I met last fall said

“I don’t think there is any ‘perfect dream house’ for anyone. As your family changes and grows, how you use your house changes, and you need different things. Sometimes even a different house.”

This stopped me for a bit, I had to think about that one. Our family has undeniably grown and changed since we moved in. We started out with 3 kids (6 and younger) and now we have 4 kids ranging from Kindergarten to Middle School. We use the space differently than we did at first. Do we need a new house? Not really—it still serves our needs. I still think there is polishing that can yet be done here.

So, I’m going to make it official. I hereby grant you (and me) permission to make changes in your home to suit you and your family’s needs. I don’t care if your house is 1 week old, or 100 years old. If your house is not on the market right this minute, then make the change. Here’s a certificate if you need something ‘official’ to put on your wall or show to your CFO. (It’s wallet size so you can even carry it around with you!)

ideas

2011-02-08T08:17:00.002-07:00

If you don’t already, I encourage you to start an ‘idea list’ file and put it on your desktop. Some people have inspiration folders, books, walls, etc—I have a file on my desktop. Some things that are in there (by no means exhaustive):

Little birds @

These are just some things that have caught my eye, and I wanted to save the idea, so when I do have space in my ‘project to-do list’ I can get one of these done!

sources:
www.livinglifecreatively.com
www.thecraftingchicks.com
www.skiptomylou.org

Thrifty Finds

2011-02-07T09:16:00.001-07:00

$3.00 for the pair. Seriously! I sold off 90% of my stoneware a couple of years ago b/c I didn’t use it. There is an exception though. The round bakers. Did you know stoneware is microwaveable? Did you know it makes EXCELLENT bacon? Now my big round baker has a sweet little sister. Its the little things that make me happiest.

Bloggy Blogging

2011-02-05T20:53:00.001-07:00

I was thinking tonight about things I could post on…there’s the 100+ paper pieced quilt blocks I should be working on, the partially refinished stair railing, my basic sock pattern, and of course the new dresser I picked up today. Really there are several things I could write about. However, as much as I LOVE to see my ramblings on the web…I was wondering what YOU, the faithful readers would like to see?

Sassy Duck Bath Co.

2011-02-05T20:24:00.000-07:00

Probably about 10 years ago (gosh that sounds like a long time!) my BFF and I tried out making soap. Back then the melt & pour glycerin soaps were all the rage (remember them?) but we wanted to make REAL soap. We researched ingredients, recipes, etc. and finally made a batch of castile soap. Turned out pretty good—all the credit for stirring should go to my bestie, she hid our soap mold in a closet under a blanket where the little kids wouldn’t find it. After the soap we tried all sorts of things, bath salts, milk bath, bath bombs, monster spray (a big hit w/the kids), and my favorite—sassy mouth pops. These were more of a joke than anything else—a soap sucker for sassy mouth kids. Thus came the name of the Sassy Duck Bath Co. We packaged everything up and went to a craft fair—people were either offended by the suckers, or just didn’t get it. So that idea went bye-bye. After trying a few craft fairs the whole venture just didn’t seem to be panning out, and things got packed away. Just before I moved here to CO she asked if I would ever do anything with all the supplies. Sure—I was interested in trying it again. However, the boxes have sat in my basement untouched until tonight. DH has thrown out his back—the worst in like 10 years—and I was thinking of home remedies we could try to help relax the muscles. Bath salts came to mind and I looked up a recipe. Knowing I still had ingredients in the basement I headed down there. After a couple minutes of looking thru EOs and ingredients I found a FULL JAR of unscented bath salts we’d mixed up a LONG time ago with our secret recipe that I had honestly thought was lost. It was so exciting to be able to take that jar upstairs and dump a bit into our big tub. Brings back the memories.
Thru all these different ‘phases’ of creativity I am happy that I’ve tried new things, gained new knowledge, and at the end of the day, found new ways to bless my family.

Getting Organized

2011-01-25T21:28:00.001-07:00

For Christmas I got a book called Organize Now. That, along with a book on home staging and my recent kick on reading decorating and organizational blogs—I have had the bug to make some good changes around the house. As I set out for my weekly shopping trip I had in mind that I wanted to get the kids crafting supplies cleaned up. For the past year I had everything on an open shelf. All arts & crafts supplies went there, as well school supplies. Needless to say—it was an overflowing mess 90% of the time.

I like to have the supplies handy as the kitchen table is homework and art project central. When I got to the ReStore I spotted two items. One a big piece (which I’ll talk about in another post), and then was this cute little cabinet stacked on top!

This little gal is a bit distressed—so she fits right in to our home.

When you’re organizing your own personal spaces, it can be hard to cut back and declutter. Sometimes brutal honesty with yourself about what you really need isn’t a quick process either. Deciding what went back into the cabinet wasn’t hard, but it did take some creativity. I dug 2 frosting tubs out of the recycle bin (we had a birthday here yesterday), rinsed them out, and put crayons in. They are the PERFECT size for crayons—I decided on 2 tubs—each with the same selection of crayons. The beauty in this is that 1. there’s enough crayons to go around, and 2. I got to throw away a BUNCH of old ucky broken crayons.

The finished project looked GREAT!

I know that it won’t always look so pretty, and that’s when I am grateful for the cabinet doors!

I started last year…

2011-01-21T10:29:00.001-07:00

I started this last year…doesn’t that sound like it took a LONG time? Really though it wasn’t too bad. I saw this quilt

a few months ago and knew I wanted to try my hand at it. It looked pretty straight forward—something I could figure out (because I’m dumb like that and didn’t just look at the pattern!!)

I went out and bought fabric—turns out I bought too much—so I got a little baby quilt out of it too.

Here’s one panel:

Anyhoo, it was fun piecing together and it turned out a LOT bigger than I anticipated. Also, it was the PERFECT quilt to practice on my mil’s new quilting machine! I have to say, I’m a pretty lucky girl. My mil got me hooked on quilting 10 years ago. How did she do this?

1. a year subscription to a quilt magazine

2. a gift card to a fabric store

and a few months back she went and bought a mid-arm quilter and a frame set-up and said ‘It’s for us to share’—holy wow!!

We put it up on the frame in December and I’ve been working on it in chunks of time here and there. I was so surprised when I went over Wednesday that I only had 2 1/2 rows left to do! I came home and started putting on the binding. By Wednesday night it was done. My daughter has claimed it.

I love that there are surprise faces in the strips. One of the joys of scrappy quilting.

Backed in aqua, bound in one of my favorite shades of green, it’s a happy quilt.

Paying it Forward

2011-01-16T09:59:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I make things just to try out techniques. I had been experimenting with lettering on pillows—painting words. This had gone into my HDP (Half Done Projects) pile in December and I would pick it up, look at it, move it and forget about it. Then on Monday (or Tuesday??)—let’s just say early in the week—I came up with an idea of what to do with the pillow.
A little green satin on the edge and it was good as done!
Except that I didn’t know where in my house I would put it. This one needed to go somewhere else…the question was where?
Fast forward a few hours, I was checking blogs that I regularly lurk thru (cause I’m a lurker!) and read this post by Ali:
http://haleymonkies.blogspot.com/2011/01/do-you-dare.html
You know where the pillow went, right?

Chair Deal!

2011-01-14T09:53:00.001-07:00

Right before Christmas (3 days prior) I was taking my dear daughter shopping for a sibling and I was magnetically drawn to one of my favorite thrift stores. This particular store has a policy that if something is out on the front sidewalk—it’s free. I had been thinking I’d like to try my hand at upholstery and low and behold, the best opportunity presented itself! I saw this lovely slipper chair out front with a not-so-beautiful slipcover on it.

When the slipcover came off I discovered that someone had done all the hard work of removing old stuffing. I honestly think someone gave up on remaking this chair. The spring in the seat were intact, the webbing was fine. Horsehair stuffing still working. Just superficial work needed to be done.

So it sat in our living room thru Christmas. Then it moved upstairs to the library for a couple of week. Finally on Tuesday I was out & about on my usual hunt and found 5 yards of this great fabric for $3.99!

I scooped it up and started working on the chair immediately when I got home:

With a little bit of foam, batting, and a lot of staples. I got to this point. Then I started putting the fabric on. I will admit, there are a couple of iffy points on the side, but it’s sturdy and everything is sewn or stapled down real well.

Right now I don’t have any plans to repaint the legs—in the future that might change. My youngest (who had just come thru a couple of tough days at school) was excited to see the treat mom had put into his room.

Supplies:

chair: free

foam: 50 cents from garage sale

batting: free (leftovers from a quilt) ($7 to buy)

stuffing: free (more leftovers) ($3 to buy)

staple gun: free (found in the garage somewhere) ($20?)

sewing thread and needle (from supplies--$1 thread, $5 upholstery needle kit)

fabric: $3.99

All in all, I paid $4.49 for this chair! Now THAT’ a deal!

I am linked up to these Friday Link Parties:

Pay it Forward 2011

2011-01-10T10:58:00.002-07:00

This is a annual thing I participate in on FB, and usually it takes 5 people—however I stopped it at 4 so I could offer one slot here! As I am a omnicrafter (meaning I do all sorts of things) you never know what you’ll get.
Here’s how this will work:
I promise to send/GIVE something handmade to the first person who leaves a comment here. However, to be eligible, you must re-post this on your blog, offering the same thing to another person. The rules are that it must be handmade by you, and it must be sent to your winner sometime in 2011. Ready, set, go.

Power Tools

2011-01-09T22:49:00.001-07:00

For some reason I am drawn to power tools. Is it the noise, or the fact that they make hard work easier? I don’t really know.

I think my first ever power tool has been my sewing machine. I know what you’re thinking—a sewing machine is NOT a ‘power tool.’ You’d be wrong there. With over 288 stitch functions, a speed control, and the ability to sew thru fingers if you’re not careful—a sewing machine is pretty powerful. Since becoming more adventurous I have graduated into more traditional things.

My mouse sander—I think I need something different, but this was a great intro into the power tool arena.

Drills—oh, how I love a nice cordless drill!!

Jig Saw—as in a saw, not a puzzle. (Although I do love a good jigsaw puzzle). Mr. StashHappy bought one a copule of years ago and I have been playing with it on projects ever since. Which brings me to my new desire. Right before Christmas I realized that I am DYING for a Compound Miter Saw. Seriously. There are a few things I really enjoy about a CMS:

1. It stays stationary on the table—there’s no chance of me losing my grip and it getting thrown across the room into a shelf, car, etc.

2. The angle stops—how cool is that really?!?

3. The whole ‘chop saw’ thing. Yes, I know you’re not supposed to ‘chop’ with it, but the motion of a CMS is just a thing of beauty.

4. And best of all—I can make more fun projects with it!!

Mr. knows I want one, and he is not adverse, we just have to get the garage organized. So, it might be a while before I get one. Ugh.

Until then, I’ll soldier on with all my other power tools.

Temptation

2011-01-07T22:52:00.001-07:00

Tonight as I was perusing Craigslist—which I LOVE to do, I have come across SEVERAL tempting options. Thought I’d share with you:

$15—complete STEAL!!

pretty, but I’m not about to pay $75—good luck to that seller

an under the bed trundle—just because I’ve been

thinking about it.

pretty at $40!

This one has really been talking to me! Yes, it would be painted. $75

Completely Sawheet deal—$100 for both—all they need is some TLC!

But really, I don’t have the room for all these gorgeous pieces in my home—even though I wish I did. If you saw something you like and want me to refinish it for you let me know, I’ll give you the listing info and a good price.

Career Choice

2011-01-07T15:12:00.001-07:00

In 2010 when I realized that all my kids would be in school full-time I got super excited. I love my children, but I was thinking of going back to work. Was it finally time to have a career?

In May I attended a Women’s Conference and chose a class on Career Choice. It seemed the perfect option for me. It wasn’t a very well attended class, but I am so happy I went! There were 2 speakers, one who is a sports newscaster for a local network station, and one who is a middle school teacher—both women.

The first speaker addressed how she was a tomboy growing up and how she had to work hard to be accepted in the sports industry. She turned down key opportunities for major advancement because she had started a family and wanted to be available for her husband and children. Broadcasting had become her second career because Motherhood was her first choice.

The second speaker had just come to the end of what looked like a promising relationship, and found herself still where she didn’t want to be—unmarried and w/o children. She was somewhat the opposite of her fellow speaker, she grew up playing dolls, doing typical girly things and wanting to be ‘mommy.’ However that blessing hadn’t come to her yet. She spoke about the fact that even though she had a ‘career’ in education, she had made her career choice long ago. Motherhood was her first choice.

Later on that month I was at church picking up a kid from a weekday youth activity and I heard the Activity Day (8-11 year old girls group) leaders talking about careers to the girls. Apparently they had a few moms come in and talk about their job, etc. The point they wanted to emphasize was that it’s ok to have a career as a woman and a job and all—but you need to be available for your family and that Motherhood should be your first choice. Then they highlighted some jobs that worked well with Motherhood.

This has all come back to me as I thought of resolutions and goals for 2011. Even though my children are at school FT, and my husband works from home, I STILL choose to be at home. I have made Motherhood my career choice. Yes I dabble in crafting insanity and task procrastination—but for the most part, its Motherhood. My house isn’t spotless, my kids are not perfectly groomed (although I try to make sure they don’t smell bad), and I play way too many FB games, but our house is a home, filled with LOVE (pun not intended) and I know I’m doing God’s work here.

I should probably go clean something now…and turn off Bejeweled.

“No other success can compensate for failure in the home.”

J. E. McCullough, Home: The Savior of Civilization [1924]

Let’s Review

2011-01-04T15:49:00.001-07:00

Ok, before I really jump into showcasing new projects I thought I’d review some of 2010’s masterpieces.

Remember when I was doing TONS of digi design?

Working in the digi industry for a year was a great experience—I learned SO MUCH. Including the fact that I really did NOT like squinting at the computer screen for hours at a time trying to change individual pixels. I still enjoy scrapping—and now I can make all my own product if I want.

In an ongoing attempt to find my ‘niche’ I tried crochet & knit things, and necklaces (which I still have a TON of) but none of these has really brought me joy.

I decided to close my Etsy store this fall for various reasons. Mostly it just isn’t working for me—probably b/c I just don’t work that way. And I rekindled my love of Thrifting. Here’s some projects that have come out of my Thrift store/garage sale hunts:

Right now I am waiting for my workroom (aka-garage) to not be so bitterly cold.

I can’t really do furniture projects when its 10 degrees outside.

I have to say that I think my favorite thing I did this year was when I went down to TX to help paint my sister’s house. You see—I’m restricted (grounded/forbidden/on a time-out) from repainting my house. My husband likes it how it is and doesn’t want everything redone (although I really think it needs it!) I LOVE redoing a room, its probably my favorite thing to do. There’s nothing like breathing new life into an area—no matter how small it is. Thankfully my sister and bil stepped in to rescue me from myself and provided some rooms for me to paint. Oh that felt SO GOOD!!

Because of the great fun I have had for the last 7 months in painting, repurposing, etc—I think this is what I want to focus on. I’m going to be honest and admit there’s no stop to me creating things. I will try and not sneak paint into the house, but that doesn’t mean I don’t get to do all sorts of other fun projects.

I’ll share as I get things done. Thanks for coming along for 2010, hope to have more fun things for 2011 for you!

My new house!

2011-01-02T18:56:00.001-07:00

I want it—so don’t ya’ll get any ideas that anyone else is going to win this baby! This house is PERFECT for my family!

1. Vermont—I’ve got family there that I’d love to be able to visit!

2.Mudroom—pretty self explanatory

3.Awesome kitchen!!

4. Ultimate Bathroom—2 toilet stalls and 3 shower stalls—that would make getting ready for school/church so easy!!

5. Bunk Room—doesn’t that look fun??

6. Outdoor spaces like this

Of course our friends are welcome to visit!

Fresh Start

2011-01-01T15:13:00.001-07:00

Twas the day before New Years,

and all thru the house,

mom was scurrying around

like a crazed mouse.

Nativities were packed

with the utmost of care

for Christmas was over

and New Years would soon be here.

Ornaments were stowed

and fake trees dismantled.

The vacuum worked overtime to

clean up fallen needles.

Ok, that’s about as far as I got with the little poem. You get the idea, right? Yesterday I packed up all of the downstairs decorations, and today I worked on the upstairs decorations. There’s something so refreshing about having a clean & organized home for New Years Day! I love a fresh start—which for me means that the clutter of Christmas is packed away.

No, that’s not a body bag—it’s a tree bag! This beauty is saving me the hassle of trying to make the box last another year. Our fat 6’ tree + stand fits in this bag, plus it has wheels!

I should’ve taken a picture of the kids in it first, huh?

Ornaments all packed up, I think that about covers it. I normally start packing things up the day after Christmas because it all starts closing in on me. This year I didn’t feel that so much. However I noticed someone else was bothered by it. How long before your Christmas décor starts to make you feel claustrophobic?

Stains Happen

2010-12-31T19:56:00.001-07:00

I did it again—I snuck a coffee table into the trunk. This time my daughter was patiently waiting in the car to do some Christmas shopping. I said “the thrift store is on the way, I HAVE to stop in!” It was Tuesday after all, my regular thrifting day. This beauty had been marked down just that morning.As you can see she was in pretty rough shape. It looks like she’d been left outside for quite some time.

That pretty leg ended in a really rough foot!

From the start I thought—paint it! But then I thought about where the table should go in my house—because ever since I sold that first table this summer that was SUPPOSED to go in my living room (oops!) I’ve been looking for a replacement. The majority of my furniture is dark wood. I know, weird since I like to paint furniture. However, this is a matter of meshing styles with dh. Anyhoo—when it came down to time to make a choice, I chose to stain this baby.

It took over an hour to sand her down—I really wanted a good start. When the stain went on, I was pleasantly surprised at how nice it came out!

The best part is that she works so nicely in my house! And if I ever tire of this dark stain I can always paint it.

Surprise Surprise

2010-12-25T22:37:00.001-07:00

In my role as ‘mom’ I find that there aren’t all that many surprises anymore. Especially at Christmas time. Why? Because it seems that I am the one that has the time to take all the kids shopping for each other, and while I am out dh says ‘pick some s.stuffers up for you too.’ While that might be someone else’s dream come true—its not necessarily mine. I had found some things that I wanted for Christmas, made sure they went either under the tree or in my stocking and so I wasn’t expecting anything today. I was actually a bit bummed out by the fact this morning, lamenting the loss of a perfectly good sleep-in day.

Thankfully, sweet dh realized this before I did and made sure a nice surprise was waiting for me.

He got me a drawing tablet!! I have been so excited about this. I don’t do graphic design commercially anymore (remember how I dabbled in it earlier this year) but I still like to digi scrapbook and this is going to be so much fun to use when designing elements and such!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Thrifty Find

2010-12-17T12:07:00.000-07:00

During my weekly thrift hunting (did you know there are 8+ thrift stores in Longmont?) I only came across one thing that I HAD to get!

Roll n’ Add is a cute tic tac toe style game that helps teach addition skills! It was NEW in the box (shrink wrapped and everything) and it just looked like something fun to play.

I tested it out this morning with one of the kids and although the math is simple (for me), there is definitely strategy built in! If you have a child struggling with basic addition—or if you’re a nerd like me, I would recommend this game!

You never know what you’re going to find at the thrift store!

A Bit Raw

2010-12-15T11:33:00.000-07:00

I think my love affair with yellow and green happened early on. There’s something so refreshing and cheerful about that color combination. My ‘blankie’ was green, the furniture set in my bedroom was yellow—so to me green and yellow have always felt like ‘home’. My first house was yellow with a green roof—no lie! During my last 3 pregnancies I craved lemon or lime ANYTHING. Do you see the pattern. :)

Speaking of patterns, this quilt was born out of scraps when I was cutting out a different pattern. I have long wanted to try a quilt with a circle motif, but really am not in the mood to turn-applique a bunch of circles. Thus, the raw-edged circle quilt:

Its made up of circles appliqued over contrasting blocks. If you’d like the pattern (dimensions and so forth) let me know and I will type them up.

Two Tones

2010-12-13T00:01:00.000-07:00

I snuck another coffee table into the house.

This one was waiting for me at one of my favorite haunts. I had seen it before, and noticed her pretty lines. But was I really ready to do another coffee table? A week later the answer was YES! She came home along with a few other items.

Inspiration hit that I should make this beauty two-tone. White legs and base, dark stained top. So, Thursday I was a busy bee getting the top completely sanded down, painting, and then staining.

Now, gone is the icky old medium brown color—you know the one I’m talking about. Instead we have fresh, smooth white paint and a dramatic dark stained top.

This baby is available for sure, click on the link in the upper right hand corner if you’re interested. :)

Good Night!

2010-12-11T21:26:00.000-07:00

The show at Imagine was my best EVER!! I was completely blown away by the wonderful reception I had from old friends and new friends! I will admit that in the small group of vendors, I was the only with furniture. Jessica of The Sassy Lass joked that I was moving into the gym there. I am tellin’ ya, at one point it felt like it. As things started clearing out my booth looked emptier and emptier—so I got to do what I love to do—rearrange furniture! I’m sure it was very entertaining to watch me.

The dolls (which my little girl made sure to give a last hug to) sold so fast. Only one was left, which according to an iron-clad contract, is now my daughter’s new adopted baby. It was wonderful to see all these moms, grammas, and little girls just loving on those dolls!

The mirror all of a sudden turned into the ‘skinny mirror’—I kid you not! It became really popular, everyone had to test it out. The jewelry vendors were sending their shoppers down to try on items in front of it! It sold pretty fast.

This bag is going to be some lucky person’s Christmas present! There was a lot of ‘can we double bag and hide this?’ going on—nothing like a little devious.

I had taken my beautiful blue stool/chair—its been a favorite piece in my house. I tend to use it as a display shelf more than anything else—and of course it was snapped right up—with the comment that I should be charging more.

All in all, my van came home emptier, and I am so excited about moving forward with this as a business more.