weekending

Well, didja go? To Michael's? To see the Martha Stewart stuff? I hope you went. I told you to go.
I actually went to three different Michael's. I know I have a problem. And in the end, I didn't even buy anything. I'm really trying to use up all the stuff I already have. I will go back and buy the super cute cupcake liners and the matching waxed tissue, though. I've been looking for some cute waxed tissue for years. I had some monogrammed cake boxes made from Williams Sonoma a few years ago, which I'm extremely stingy with. I'f you've received one from me, I probably like you a whole lot. Or I was trying to impress you. Anyways, I've always wanted some cute waxed tissue paper for inside the boxes. And the Martha stuff is cute.

Here are my thoughts on the rest of the line: If you saved your issues of KIDS, you probably have everything in clip art form, or can download directions to make most of these things yourself. I probably won't buy any of the kits, but they're cute. They'd be a lovely gift for a friend who's crafty-but-no-as-crafty-as-me because I'd rather just make the stuff myself.

In other news, I received my package from the Old School swap this weekend. My swap partner was Ann. Look at all the great stuff she sent me:


(there was also a darling handmade book bag that she sent me, but I could not for the life of me get it to sit right for the photo)

Here is what I sent her:

(check out the awesome vintage school charm bracelet. It was hard to part with that. and the counting/spelling board. and the flashcards. boy, do i like vintage old school stuff)

Here's what else I did this weekend:

:: had "bunko" on Friday night with about 20 ladies in my new neighborhood. What I love about this group is there's actually no pretense of even playing bunko (which is good, because I'm not even sure what it is). In fact, this particular event was held at a local nail salon and we had appetizers and drinks and got manicures and pedicures. I love my new neigbhorhood!

:: Saturday night, went to dinner with the family at a friend's house. In my old neighborhood. And played at my "old" park. I love my old neighborhood!

:: Sunday, took the kids to Great America. My husband's company rents it out once a year for the co-workers. This is the first time we've gone. If I had my way, it would also be our last. Of course, it's lovely of the company to do this. It's Great America itself that I take issue with. Let's just say that I brought my camera and couldn't find anything to take a picture of. I could find nothing charming about the place - nothing unusual or pretty. And, usually, I'm the first one to take a good carnie photo. This just isn't that place. It's all Looney Tunes all the time, with some $3 cokes thrown in. But the kids had fun. And so it was a good day.

and a happy arbor day to you, as well!

Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps the singing bird will come.

-- Chinese proverb

now get out there and plant a tree, dammit! (you can get ten free trees here)

Look, mom, I'm a noun!

sweet jessie, noun(2006): Used interjectionally to express surprise, shock, or frustration.

1. "Sweet Jessie! Did you see that three-legged goat?"
2. "OUCH! SWEET JESSIE! I slapped a porcupine!"

tags: holy crap, shoot, good grief, dang it, holy cow

[from the Urban Dictionary]. I think I'm flattered!

I need this

I heart Martha

Well, I mean, not really. I've never met the gal. Although I came really close. My sister-in-law dated her nephew for a couple of years and I thought for sure I'd get to meet her. My sister-in-law (hereafter known simply as Gabrielle) actually went to her house in Connecticut while Martha was in jail (we won't discuss that unpleasantness here) and met her chickens. Gabrielle says they were the most beautiful chickens ever.

My love affair with Martha began when I was pregnant with Olivia and I noticed Martha Stewart Baby on the newsstand. Do any of you remember that one? From that magazine, I learned how to make a little dress out of an embroidered pillowcase, how to make a french knot, and how to make our own baby food (oh yes I did). I was so inspired by the pink ribbon cake in one issue that I took three months of cake decorating classes so I could make Olivia's 1st birthday cake (in fact, I made three of them).

Sadly, there were only a few issues of Baby published (I still have each of them), and then Omnimedia moved on to KIDS (I have every one of those, too). I devoured each and every one of those issues. I needed the applesauce muffin recipes and the how-to's and the pull-out magazines and the clip art. I needed that magazine! So imagine my dismay when KIDS, too, stopped being published.

Yes, I subscribe to Living, but my heart isn't in it. It's a bit too foofy for me. I don't even rip any pages out any more. And I don't save the issues, either.

But my faith was restored with the advent of Blueprint. In fact, I got my latest issue yesterday:

There's a wonderful peek into the home of Joelle Hoverson, one of the sisters behind Purl and Purl Patchwork (and of course, the Purl Bee):

So when I stopped into Michael's today to buy more glass clippy frames for my kids' artwork...

Imagine how delighted I was to see the racks being assembled for this:

Yay!

a perfect weekend

Went for a bike ride around the new neighborhood ::


Went out for a lovely dinner with a few girlfriends, and drank some good wine ::

Took the husband and kids to the zoo on the most beautiful day ever::
and got to see the baby giraffe ::
hung my new tote bag from a tree (my husband said "that's normal") ::
made a notepad cozy (a nod to Jill Bliss) ::
and used it for directions to get to an antique market with Melissa on Sunday ::
Scored a ton of cloth covered golden books at said antique market (well worth the 60+ mile drive into farm country) ::
and also these, which have great illustrations for cutting up, or for, I suppose - educating myself and/or my children ::
And some treasures for the Old School Swap (including this spelling & counting board) ::
And then I watched a movie on the couch with my husband, cleaned the kitchen, showered up the kids and got in our pajamas, and we all went to the Oberweis drive-thru for ice cream (I had a turtle candy sundae. yum). It was a perfect weekend.

Respect Your Mother

happy earth day.

a tote or two

busy sewing::

piano man

As we started building our new house (I can't believe it was a year ago already), I always knew my intended purpose for the sitting room. It was my piano room. It didn't matter to me that I had never played the piano. I wasn't even concerned that we didn't have a piano. I had a piano room.
Skip forward a year, and past a very generous housewarming/birthday/christmas/
every-gift-I'll-ever-get-again-from-my-mom and there sits proudly a beautiful baby grand piano. That I don't know how to play. My husband assumed that I could, at the least, read music. Why would I be able to read music? I can't. But he has this vision of coming home after work and having a glass of cognac or some other foofy drink and sitting down on the pink chairs and listening to me play the piano (actually, I kind of have the same vision). It's all very Donna Reed. So today, I start lessons. I'm off to see the piano man. And, BY GOODNESS, there will be music!

strapping one on - and other fun stuff

I'm so excited about all of the fun stuff I got this weekend, that I just wanted to share with the rest of the class. So here, in no particular order, is all of my fun new stuff:

:: buttons from Laura, my swap partner for the Vintage Button Swap Deux. She also sent me some beautiful hand-dyed ribbon and a favorite thimble. Thank you so much Laura!
(this is what I sent her).

:: new fabric from Japan. It's not much in terms of yardage, but look how cute it is!

:: some darling friends of ours sent us this statue of St. Joseph to bury in the yard of our still-unsold house. Not being a Catholic myself, I'm not sure just who this St. Joseph character is or why he'd want to help us sell our house, but seeing as we're going on eight months now, we could use all the help we can get.

:: more fabric. I was very busy with the fabric hunting this weekend. My brother came in from Minneapolis and I entertained him by taking him fabric shopping. He was delighted, I'm sure. But good company nonetheless.

Yesterday, I met up with an old friend I hadn't seen since college, and after a super yummy breakfast (Blackberry Bliss pancakes with mascarpone, fresh berries, and oatmeal crust - heaven!), we spent the day thrifting for more fabric and other delights. And then I took her to my favorite little quilt shop in Lincoln Park. If you're in the area, do stop in and visit with Colette, the proprietor of Quiltology. She's darling.

My final score was this candy rack. We had to strap it on top of Mary's car - thank goodness for bungie cords - and drive around downtown with it (see, I told you I strapped one on this weekend).
I thought it would be great for the kid's books.

Olivia wants to bring it outside and sell stuff from it. My little entrepreneur.

a self portrait

My daughter doesn't mince words. At six, she says things like, "Let me demonstrate....", "speaking of which", and, "Oh, you startled me". So imagine my dismay when she answered the phone the other day and politely told the caller (Who asked "what's your mommy doing?") "Oh, she's taking pictures of herself in the mirror". {Insert red cheeks here}.

I was just going to take a picture of me in my favorite sweater:

Not a great angle, I know. So I moved on to the mirror, which was really hard to do. For one, I either looked pissed off (is that how I really look?) or totally posed (which I really wasn't doing). Second, I'm either blurry or the lighting is bad. And third, well, I just felt kind of silly taking a picture of myself. Except that it couldn't possibly be construed as a vanity thing because - seriously - just look what I ended up with:

No makeup, messy hair, slightly blurred, poor lighting, and you can't even see my sweater. Oh well, I quit.

Well, maybe just one more try:

Very Vera - and a very good day

I had an hour to kill yesterday, so I stopped by a few of my favorite thrifty haunts. Check out my loot:

: a set of Vera dishes, in "the birches" pattern. I practically stole these for $13, and I LOVE them! : and then I went to another shop and found these. I think they're for cream and sugar. Or pansies, right? 3 bucks, no joke.

: and then I found this little sweetie. It was love at first sight. And mine for only a dollar.



I came home in the afternoon and picked up the newspaper. I can't open the paper without checking my horoscope. In hindsight, my day made tons of sense.

"...You're hungry for the goodies that you know you can acquire.
Put in the extra effort and gather up the extra rewards."

It was a very good day.

handmade nation

Have you seen this? The new trailer for Handmade Nation (formerly the Indie Craft Documentary) is now available on YouTube. The girls over at the DIY Trunk Show sent me a link. You can see a sneak peek here. I love the music they've set it to. It reminds me of the Chocolat soundtrack, which is one of my favorites.

mug love

There. I've said it. I'm a mug lover. I eat and drink everything I possibly can in an oversized mug. Coffee? That's a given. Ice cream? Check.
Cereal? Check, Check.
Yogurt with granola and blueberries? Mhmmm...

Every single day.
My favorite mugs are the ones the kids have painted, like these:


Unfortunately, these are not mine. Since I'm the one that takes the kids to paint the mugs, they can't very well be a gift for me. Therefore, every single one of these beauties has been a gift for daddy. Hmmm..... I sure wish someone would make me a mug. Isn't mother's day next month (*wink wink*) or something?

In other news, I had a terribly fascinating day today:
I took pictures of spools of thread, sorted by color. (I told you it was fascinating!)

And then I worked on some silhouettes of a friend's little girls.

And framed my newest additions to my paint by numbers collection:

{these will go in here somewhere}:


And now I'm going to finish up my terrifically exciting chores. If you're lucky, maybe tomorrow I'll share with you the intricacies of folding a fitted sheet.

It's quite possible I need to get out of the house a bit more.

an Easter morning quickie

The kids are at grandma's this morning, so what else would I do but wake up and...
set to work on a project for the guest room.
Inspired by Miss Posie, I went out yesterday and stocked up on these wooden fabric hoops (so cheap! They were ninety nine cents each) and set to work with a pile of fabric this morning.
I love how it turned out! It was quick, easy, and cheap (very funny. get your mind out of the gutter). And darling, if you ask me.

What's she doing in there?

There was that time when I was on my front porch taking close-up after close-up of a delightful plate of cupcakes (the photos turned out great, by the way. The pale pink swirls of frosting were captured beautifully in the natural light, which was why, incidentally, I went outside with them in the first place). Or, on a night like this when I'm in my new office that has no shades on the walk-out doors. Do my neigbhors look in and wonder why, at eleven p.m. I'm standing on top of my desk with my camera, trying to get a good picture of a pincushion I just made? Or of a pile of fabric, or a spool of thread next to my sewing machine (or a favorite globe, perhaps?)... Maybe they're not even looking. But I'd look; When I was in college I lived in Lincoln Park in Chicago, and I loved walking home at night because I could see into the well-lit windows of all of the beautiful brownstones and get a glimpse of their decor. Not in a weird, peeping tom kind of way. Just in a, well, nosy way. Maybe I'll just have to tell my new neigbhors I'm crafty. That should explain it all.

Spring

although here in Chicago, you never can be sure. It was 73 degrees last week, and then 31 yesterday. I think I'll just stay home and finish up some projects:


fabric covered push-pins (see a tutorial here)


magnetic chalk-board

baby gifts

and I have to (get to!) finalize my package for the vintage button swap deux (I'll post pictures after the swap). So excited - it's my first official swap! Thank you, Sally, for hosting!

Then I'm going to try to explain to my husband how I just spent fifty dollars on less than two yards of fabric. It's coming from Japan! It's really cute! The price was for a fat quarter, not a yard!

I'm also going to work on a banner design for this gal, and do some graphic design work.

Finally. I'm going to try and get some stuff made for my Etsy shop, which has been sitting empty for months now.

happy weekending, everyone! And don't eat too many chocolate bunnies.

she makes stuff

(and sometimes she writes in third person)

1. fabric covered push-pins, 2. she sews again, 3. new fabric, 4. fabric for my robot girl, 5. decoupaged clipboards, 6. hand made rolodex, 7. bookplates, 8. baby girl hanky dresses, 9. 'new' fabric finds, 10. clippings, 11. fun new fabric, 12. buttons, buttons..., 13. stitched gift cards, 14. brown baggin it, 15. tangle, 16. stuff on a shelf in my office, 17. monkey man's pennant flags, 18. vintage giftwrap, 19. hand made rolodex, 20. fun stuff for a dollar, 21. rack of onesies, 22. stash, 23. hand dyed and appliqued onesie, 24. Flickr - 013, 25. Flickr - 102