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Winter Break

27 Thursday Dec 2012

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Tree1HugGiftsJosieCakeFrenzyWe have been taking a few quiet days here to enjoy calm after the past busy weeks. (Well, mostly calm until the tragedy of spilled Sea Monkey water at lunch today). I hope you are all enjoying your holidays so far. Josie is so happy to have her big sister home for the week and new toys and art projects are keeping them busy. I always feel a little sad after the frenzy of making and wrapping and cooking for Christmas is over. But thinking about the excitement of the year to come and planning new projects always makes me feel better.

A few things from the last weeks:

*Decorated. My once vintage-only tree decorations have made way for crayon colorings and heavily decorated bottom branches.

*Cousin Hug

*Wrapped. A mix of vintage and Ikea papers and glittered tags.

*Josie, Christmas Eve Party. Methodically eating an entire piece of cake with one antenna and a grown-up fork.

*Frenzy

**Cheers to New Year’s Plans!**

Inspiration

21 Friday Dec 2012

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Instagrams from the week:

* Holiday Cards on String Across the Mantle
* Coloring on the Plane
* Alphabet Magnet Production
* Drumming at the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, CO
* Waiting for The Nutcracker, at BAM
* The Bottom-Heavy Tree

Family Photo Album Gift

07 Friday Dec 2012

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Our Photo Albums just arrived in the mail!  Every year we look through all the photos of the girls and have our favorites made into a book for the grandparents.  I love the process of editing and looking over the images from the past year.  Ada and Josie like to pull their chairs up to the computer and look through the pictures with me.  They grow and change so much in a year!  There are lots of online sites to create photo books, but we have always used IPhoto and Apple and love the results.  The editing and page options in Iphoto make it really easy to transfer photos into a book layout and the finished albums are beautiful.  The whole process of putting together a book feels very satisfying.  It makes us feel thankful for the past year and excited for the year ahead.  (And opening the books at Christmas time always seems make the grandparents smile).

*You still have time to make your own if you need a gift idea.  Our books always arrive in under two weeks.

Transition

26 Monday Nov 2012

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We are half way between pumpkins and snow here.  Ada finished her last piece of coveted (and formerly forbidden) Halloween candy today and moved directly into making Christmas decorations.  A mysterious box arrived in the mail from Aunt Laurel, containing a full advent calendar in the shape of a stuffed elf that is as big as the girls.  Aunt Anna came up with the idea of filling and mailing the advent calendar to a different member of our family each year and Ada is completely intrigued by the elf’s full pockets.  There are lots of beautiful advent calendar ideas on the blogs this year – Oh Happy Day and You Are My Fave have some great ones.  The change in the season always brings on a flurry of making around here.  We have surrounded ourselves with yarn, glitter, felt and fabric and are excited about secret gift plans.  What are you getting excited about for the upcoming season?

Thankful Halloween

31 Wednesday Oct 2012

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Happy Halloween!

It has been a dramatic and scary week for many of us here on the East Coast. We are thankful our family and friends are safe and that our home weathered the storm, and our hearts go out to those who were not so lucky. We spent a night upstairs Sunday sleeping away from tree the branches creaking and bending outside the windows. Chris and I were up late listening to the wind and hoping for the best during our first real storm in this old house. Ada and Josie jumped ecstatically on the feather bed we’d put down for them as we adults tried to look brave. This week also had our family waiting out a frightening but ultimately successful medical scare. We are so thankful that all is going well with our sweet cousin and niece. Both the storm and the surgery are now becoming the past and healing is starting. The last week makes me want to hug my girls and remember how lucky we are, and what a luxury it is to be able to take that for granted. Chris just left with the girls in their costumes for a Halloween party. They are off on adventure of first trick-or-treating and have quite forgotten about the scares of the past few days. I am happy to be here alone for the moment, in an empty and now quiet house, feeling thankful.

Redecorating for Fall

12 Friday Oct 2012

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I like to change the painting in Ada’s room to match the tree outside her window.  I noticed some yellow leaves out there, so it is time for some fall colors.   It is also time to lay the girls’ rug back down on their floor.  The bare wood seems to keep the house cooler in the summer.  A warmer spot to sit and play is needed when the temperature drops.  We turned the heat on last night for the first time, (after a call to the repair men),  and I am getting out the warmer blankets this weekend.  Our (first!) spring-blooming bulbs arrived in the mail yesterday from White Flower Farm.  We are excited to get started on our new garden and will get the plants snuggled in the ground this weekend.  I can’t seem to stop thinking about soup and pie recipes.  This Cheddar Apple Pie from Gourmet is amazing.  What are you doing at home to get ready for fall?

Flea Market Finds

01 Monday Oct 2012

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Happy October!

My friend Leslie and I spent a kid-free morning yesterday at The Elephant’s Trunk Flea Market.  (Thanks Dads!)  It was a beautiful fall day, despite a few sprinkles, and the leaves had just started changing colors in Connecticut.  We both found some great stuff and had a lovely lazy morning wandering around.  I am still jealous of the bright blue and red umbrella Leslie scored!  Flea markets are my favorite way to spend a morning.  I love nothing more than wandering around and getting ideas, thinking of new ways to use old things, and finding inspiration.  Here are my finds:

Ironstone butter pats – also great for holding small jewelry or marbles, spices when cooking, or for mixing watercolors.  Ebay has some here.  (The opal glass is for Ada’s collection).

Glass drawer pulls in various sizes.  You never know when you will need the perfect set!  I am putting the small set on Ada’s dresser today.  The rest will be saved for future projects.  Etsy has some here.

Balsa hat form.  I went specifically to the flea for this and found the perfect one for $25.  I love it when that magically happens!  I am using it to photograph my headband crowns for my opening-soon Etsy store.

Giant wicker basket.  I love this thing!  I bargained it down to $35, and had no idea what I would do with it.  I was thinking of maybe using it for a laundry basket, or blanket storage, or towels, or maybe a future baby bed…It seemed to grow when it got into the trunk of our car and by the time I got it home it seemed really big.  Ada and Josie saw it and begged to put it in their room as a ‘nest’.  They have been reading books and snuggling bears in there.  I am still not sure where it will end up, but it is good in the corner of their room for now.  This figuring out the perfect use for something that was once loved by someone else is exactly why I love the flea market.

Inspiration

21 Friday Sep 2012

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Instagrams from the week:

* The Season’s First Pumpkin
* Tomas Saraceno’s Cloud City at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
* Pillows, Vintage and Ikea
* Ada’s Installation: Osage Orange, Chartreuse Yarn and the Horse

Wool Felt Coaster DIY

05 Wednesday Sep 2012

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We made these wool felt coasters from some square lace doilies we found at the flea market. They are a simple cut and stitch project which requires very minimal sewing skills. Round doilies could be substituted if you have those. The simple X stitching we used will work for any shape, and a larger set of doilies would be great as trivets. To make the coasters you will need:
*Wool Felt (This is our favorite)

*Small Doilies

*Pinking Shears

*Straight Pins

*Sewing Machine

*Thread to Match Doilies

1. Cut felt into squares to match doilies using pinking shears.  (Our squares are 3 1/4″).

2. Iron doilies if needed.

3. Center each doily on top of a felt square and pin in place.

4. Using a zig-zag stitch, sew an X through each coaster as sewn.  Be careful to remove pins as you stitch and to not let the fabrics buckle.

5. Tie the stitch ends on the underside of felt and trim.

6. Make some cocktails!

DIY Shell Frame

28 Tuesday Aug 2012

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The beach at Nag’s Head, NC was covered in tiny shells.  The kids spent one morning gluing collected shells onto little wooden picture frames.  We used our mini Fuji camera to add a photo.  Ada decided this one was my birthday gift, and it was just what I wanted.  To make your own shell frame you will need:

*Small Shells

*Wooden Picture Frame

*Elmer’s Glue

*Photograph

1. Wash sand from shells and dry thoroughly.

2. Have children glue shells to frame.

3. Glue in your favorite photograph and allow to dry.

4. Bring home the beach.