i craft

i made myself a shirt last night. please forgive the crummy picture, i took it at work this morning. sssshhhhh! the details: two coats of ruby red jacquard ink on a old shirt from target. i washed collettes deer shirt last night, and it looks terrific! no fading whatsoever. if you havent made one of these yet, i cant tell you how fun it is. i think if we had an american apparel store here, i might never leave the basement again. seriously. questions for those who have tried this, what are you using to cut your stencils and on what are you cutting them? the first two i used a utility knife thing, which wasnt so hot, this time i had new blades for my exacto knife. both times i cut on my fabric cutting mat. im wondering if it might be easier to use some hard surface instead? or maybe i shouldnt pick a font with such tiny pointed corners? probably. anyway, have a wonderful weekend everyone. looks like there is 100% chance of rain all weekend here, so i dont have to feel guilty if i make ten more shirts...

summer corner

ok, ok, i know i am rushing summer, but the weather has been so nice lately. last week i finally remembered after ten million trips to target to buy some new playdough. since we already have enough bits of dried food on our floor (rice anyone??) i decided to move their little table out on the porch. perfect! a new corner is born! i think i will be doing this quite a bit this summer because they loved it and we spend A LOT of time out there. so glad to see that other friends are doing the same. more corners of my home on flickr.

delightful

things that are making me smile right now: my children, my husband strumming the guitar on the porch, my brilliant and kind friends who bring over huge bubble guns, the warm breezy weather, the dialogue about blogging and inspiration that mav has started, the amazing creativity online and at home, friends who accomplish so much with such beauty, friends who take risks (you too sarah, beth and toby).

the world is good.

i have merit

i was a crafting powerhouse thursday and friday! we're talking mailorder, calendars, bonnets, freezer paper stencils. hot diggity! for all my male readers, this about the time when you tune out of this post, because its just going to be chock full of pictures and bubbly crafty play by play. i know how much you love it. hold onto your butts ladies, this is going to be crazy!

so on with the show. first up, mailorder! i finally had a chance to sit down and lovingly poor over my two large red envelopes filled with mailorder goodness cooked up by the amazing ms. amy k. oh my. was it fun! i cut out my decoder ring and set to work earning mama some funny money. i havent had a chance to bake anything yet because i was too dang excited about the projects. first up, the birthday calendar. something i have wanted for a long, long time.



since i have few places to hang something i opted instead to mount it on some thin cardboard covered in some marbled paper and glued on some magnets. this paper always makes me think of melted neapolitan ice cream which i thought was very appropriate for birthdays. super fun. oh and ladies if you have one of those little xyron x sticker things, it works perfectly for the little embellishments and merit badges. im not so handy with a glue stick, i tend to make a mess.



too much, huh? yeah. this sweet, sweet, sweet little number is the famous bonnet pattern from the second mailorder. and i love it. this is the first time ever that i have not made a mistake on a sewing project. thats how easy and well illustrated this pattern is. i made the baby sized bonnet because um, well, we have small heads, unlike a little lady i know. i posted more pictures on flickr. lots more, im a little obsessed.

speaking of obsessed, remember how i was going crazy over all those freezer paper stencils? i finally got my hands on some paper and ink. so, so fun.

i did these two shirts for collette. the deer is with jacquard ink, mint green with sparkles, and the mystery is with peacock blue speedball ink. i posted some closeups on flickr. they were very satisfying to make, although i think my next stencil will be larger and more angular. certainly not doing tiny footprints again. whew! i started a group on flickr for these to discuss inks, tips, maybe trade stencil patterns. care to join?

so what is a gal to do after getting so much done? why, treat herself to a big bowl of her new favorite.


bryers coffee ice cream. heavens to betsy it is tasty...

i will stop now

all the whining about not having time, and blah, blah and three kids. why? because i got two things done last night!! thank you arlo for going to bed at 745, you blessed little creature. lets see, first i fixed up a pair of the dawgs jeans with some decorative and functional stitching. he was mighty pleased. and then, wonder of wonders, i finally finished the last bit of sewing on the car seat cover. so here is the saga. we dragged out the eliots baby seat from the basement right before miss arlo was born to find it covered in nasty mold.

um yeah. this picture looks like crap because i took with eliots $17 digital camera (the argus 1512 if youre in the market) because i was desperate. so we washed it of course, but the mold had done its damage and stained the cover. nice. as we were on the cusp of having a third child and all the financial burdens that carries with it, a replacement carseat wasnt really an option or worth it for that matter. being the crafty lady that i think i am, i set about to make a cute, girl cover for it. sorry collette, i know you spent a year in the manly black and yellow thing, hold it against me later. i lovingly traced a pattern out of brown paper grocery bags, found some coordinating materials in my stash, to save money of course, and got started with plenty of zeal. my plan was to make a cover that just fit over the top like a fitted bed sheet. my problem is that i forgot to take into account the 3D nature of the seat and that i had to have enough material for it to go down into the seat. nice. so i put the whole thing together, gathered edges and all, went to put it on and realized that it wouldnt fit. the flaps pulled it too tight, so arlo would end up resting on some sort of trampoline type surface. not safe im guessing. defeated, the project sat untouched for about five weeks. then i had a moment of epiphany in the middle of the night, drawstrings instead of elastic! that way i could loosen the slack, right? wrong, still too tight. it sat for another few weeks. then i was telling david the whole story (he was about as excited as a guy can get about sewing gone wrong) when the brilliant man said, why dont you take off the flaps and just make a strap? i think i literally slapped my forehead.

and that is what i did last night. these pictures really crack me up, they look like security camera captures. good old argus...

not only did i manage to finish the damn thing, i also managed to salvage the scraps from the jacked up flaps to make myself a nifty little work apron.

i actually made this the second time i picked up the cover to replace the elastic with drawstrings, while i had a real camera in the house. these are the two gathered flaps that were supposed to fit over the top and bottom, ungathered of course. i even used the twill tape for the drawstring attempt as ties for the apron. i have been wearing this thing around the house, those two big pockets are very handy. and i feel so great for getting the cover done, AND a little something for myself. so there, no more whining. promise. maybe...

thank goodness for grandmas

i have decided that for now, being the mother of three is like trying to run underwater. i have ten million things in my head that i would love to do, some of them totally selfish, some not, but finding the time, or more accurately finding the right timing is so hard right now. my output is not even close to keeping up with my input. i mean come on, project carseat cover is pushing nine weeks now. sheesh... and easter, well we are truly thanking grandmas at our house this year because mom completely spaced easter. ok, not spaced. lets be honest, mom pointedly decided NOT to do anything for easter this year. the grandmas came through with wonderful easter packages (not filled with candy, the only candy to touch the kids lips this year was one sleeve of pez each!) and easter dresses. thank you grandmas, thank you! i had visions of wee bunnies, and homemade baskets, or maybe pretty felt trays like stephanie. visions galore. next year, right? ok, so car seat cover to be completed this week, and then all bets are off. but those freezer paper shirts (here, here, here, and here) are killing me... craft on ladies, craft on! im living so very vicariously through you!

dear arlo

dear arlo,
please forgive your mother for already being afflicted by the third child syndrome. it doesnt mean i love you any less, it just means i have less time to do things. which is why your annoucements are just now being designed, why i still havent ordered any pictures, and why i have given up the idea goccoing them myself. im sure that things like this will continue to happen for the rest of your life, but i hope that your laid back personality will make it ok. i love you very much my sweet, sweet girl.

love,
your mom

ocho semanas

for those non-spanish speaking readers, arlo hit the eight week mark yesterday! wow. in a blink, it all passed in a blink. oh, and she is a proud supporter of TYOTD as well, for you friend...i put a bunch more pics up on flickr, you can just click this one and the magic of the internet will whisk you away.

kc is having some beautiful weather right now. we had a great porch sit last night. and i was very excited to find out that the eddys are coming over tonight to enjoy their first porch sit of the season. cant wait guys! as you can see in this picture, our porch swing gets plenty of use. as i ease back into the world of projects (i actually have something to take pictures of today! tune in tomorrow), recovering the swing is very high on the list. right after make bonnets for the girls, mommy included. i plan on rummaging around the outdoor fabrics at joanns, but i have to admit that i am in LOVE with this, maybe paired with this?. i mean, i am drooling over it, but last night i was thinking about oilcloth, and how much we actually sit on the swing. perhaps not the best combination for hot temps and sweaty legs? do you think the oilcloth would make my, um, my bum sweaty in the summer? sorry, sounds gross, but really. anyone?


and who doesnt like to have a bit of color to brighten your day? loving spring...

intestinal transit (delicate readers be forewarned)

so i have absolutely nothing to report on the crafty side. i lounged this weekend away and did math (balanced the checkbook) and paid bills last night. fun. yeah. but what i do have to report is a warning to consumers. whatever you do, DO NOT buy dannon's activia yogurt. i guess i should have been tipped off by the commercials. have you seen them? you know the girl doesnt feel like going out with her friend, her reasoning involving groaning and a general rub of the abdominal area. confusing, no? well, being the sucker that i am, i see that the activia is on sale and i decide to buy some. tip-off number two perhaps (the slashing of prices). now, i must say that i am a lover of pretty much any dairy product, and not at all afraid of bacteria cultures. my mom used to make us drink acidophilus milk when we were kids for our complexion and general well being. thanks mom. i bring home my blueberry activia and have one at lunch last week. before i eat it, i decide to read up on the webpage. a bunch of blather about "regulating the digestive system" and "reducing long intestinal transit time" which is just a nice way of saying it makes you poop. here is a bit of personal information that you may or may not wish to know about me. i am not a frequent pooper. i would say once, maybe twice a week. david likes to tell me that i am literally full of it. i guess i probably am, which is why i bought the activia. after having consumed three 4oz containers chock full of their patented "bifidus regularis" i am here to tell you that this stuff is deadly. i have been emitting a cloud of the most foul smelling gas imaginable for the last few days. it takes all of my will power (and a little rectal strength) to keep the stuff in while i am at work. i rush home and let loose the terror on my poor family. it is bad. really bad. so bad that i felt the need to warn anyone who may be thinking of purchasing this product, at the cost of my own personal embarrassment. not really, i dont get embarrassed by much. but still, if you have to be in public and you dont want to experience the constant strain of retaining your nasty gas so as not to physically harm passers by, do not, i repeat, do not eat activia. those bifidus regularises are evil little buggers...

reds, pinks and a bit of purple

orange

i have had so much fun looking through my pictures to find these colors. i borrowed a friends camera and actually took some last night at the ROCKIN' fashion show at HABITAT, our friends john and kristen's awesome store. the show last night was a benefit for david's after school program, Let's Make A Movie. how great is that!?? he should have some footage uploaded soon at his webpage films for youth, check it. speaking of habitat, they are on the cusp of getting their ecommerce up and running. if you hip guys and gals just cant wait, you can sneak a peek at their flickr site and purchase anything you see over the phone. believe me, based on last nights show, there is LOTS to buy! just tell them i sent you, maybe i can get some extra love out of the deal...
arlo rocked the house in her cool black tshirt last night too. there might be some photographic evidence of that making its way over here. eliot and collette spent the night with my parents, and i must say having one sleeping newborn to deal with is a nice treat. it was practically like david and i were dating again! we got to go have dinner, spend the night at a hip fashion show... very fun. i plan on hitting the crafting hard this weekend, and hopefully have some results to share with you all. time to stretch out the old sewing muscles and get to work!

brown, black & white

i love that there are black, brown and white cows in this picture. how perfect. last night sarah felt called to bring us an ice cream treat that also had black (chocolate), brown (carmel), and white (vanilla). it was also perfect. thank you sarah, it was a blessing.

green

i started a photo set on flickr for the week of color (just click on any of the above photos to link as well). im loving this project, i only wish my camera was working so i could roam around town and take some pictures like amanda. what a fun new way to look at your surroundings. mav also has some gorgeous pics up as well. so soothing...

back in the saddle

i decided to give my brain a day to process being back at work before i blogged about it. that way i wouldnt say something stupid and get fired. oh wait... so here i am. its not so bad. keep in mind that i slept for five hours. sounds like a lot, but not as fun when they are not in a row. i have to admit that there are some nice things about being at work. i think they could be summed up in a short list like this:
1. a computer all to myself, with internet access.
2. a guaranteed shower everyday (necessary to wake up and function)
3. listening to my ipod for hours at a time

the things that arent so great go something like this:
1. miss the huffsters (not the craziness so much)
2. having to put on clothes that require ironing
3. the food table

the food table is a gross phenomena at work that fascinates me. its basically an empty desk, or the top of a filing cabinet will work quite nicely too, where people bring in whatever left over crap they have at home that they think people might eat. sounds gross huh? you might think this food would sit there for hours getting all warm under the neon tube lights, huh? well your wrong. its like a mad rush to gobble up whatever is being offered. three day old luke warm spinach dip? yum! half a birthday cake? i'll take it. heaven forbid if you get caught up in the stampede when there are donughts to be had. it could be life threatening...

on a more positive note, now that i am back at the computer i can catch up on reading blogs again. only during lunch break of course. and since my camera is still broken, i am going to take this opportunity to post some past photos for mecozy's week of color. fun! i missed out on monday, which was yellow. tuesday is blue, and i think this is my favorite blue picture, courtesy of toby.


here is one i took, which could count for blue and yellow!


its good to be back!