A Headband From Scraps

So last night I took about an hour to use up some scrap ribbon and fabric to make Anna a new head band. The last one was stepped on … or sat on … either way, it broke, and Anna determined that this might be a very good time for me to make her another one. A more elaborate one.
And I did
I had everything I needed on hand and it took about an hour of “TV crafting”. That’s sort of watching something on TV that doesn’t quite have your attention while crafting! I love doing that!

And here’s the happy girl this morning …

  … who rarely finds an occasion where she would have nothing to say
{Totally off topic, but see those little green sprouts in the background of the photos. We took the plunge last weekend (even though we’re still well above 100 F every day) and seeded some grass where the ugly concrete patch was that we ripped out! And it’s coming in! Yay!}
Back to the headband!
You’ll need a plain headband. You can get them at the dollar store for something like 5 for $1.
Scrap ribbon. I think 1/4 inch might have been a little faster, but I didn’t have any in Anna’s fav colors, so I went with the 1/8 inch.
Scrap fabric.

I followed this tutorial (by Skip To My Lou)  for the ribbon weaving and glued it on the plastic headband with a little hot glue. The only thing I did differently was that I made two ribbon pieces, which meant I had clean pieces on either end of the head band and could hide the “knotted ends” under the flower.
I just made the flowers, much like in this tutorial (by Shelley from House of Smiths.) I folded and glued the outer  parts of my flower differently than the tutorial, but I did roll the pink portion of the fabric rounds like in the tutorial.

Then I attached the flower to the headband with an additional piece of felt like in the tutorial and it was done!
Have a wonderful day everyone!

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Gearing up for parties

So, October is almost upon us and October is a bit of a crazy month in this house. Lots and lots of birthdays and then it all ends in the much anticipated Halloween activities that seem to go on for several days!

We start the month off with my birthday, which doesn’t usually cause much craziness - even though I have to say that the last few years my birthday often signified some big event, that had little or nothing to do with my actual birthday.

On my birthday in 2004 my now husband proposed to me. At 6 am actually, but that’s a whole different story lol

On my birthday in 2005 I had to go to the hospital for steroid shots because my pre-eclampsia was progressing rapidly and there was a good chance we were going to have babies within days – or even hours. So to develop the lungs faster, steroid shots were in order. Such fun – NOT!

And it goes on like that.

Last year I got to spend my birthday in Germany. Usually that would have been a good thing, but since the Germany trip was connected with the grim task of sorting through all my mothers stuff, the funeral and essentially all things estate sale, it was not really a very happy time.

 

Did you know that the year after I moved away from Germany, they made my birthday a national holiday? Man, they sure were glad to get rid of me, huh?

 

Anyway, I look forward to an ordinary birthday this year No special excitement or events, just a nice day with the family!

Then we have some friend’s birthdays and the kid’s social calendar is really filling up in October!

And then of course there is the first “main” event of the month – Max and Anna’s birthday! MUCH anticipated, I can tell you!

They are turning 5 this year. I KNOW!! FIVE! I can’t believe it!

This year we are having a little party for them and it will for the first time be one where friends, family and school buddies will be invited. In the years before we usually kept it to the extended family, but this year we’re expanding.

 

Hopefully the weather will co-operate (ie not too hot!) so we can actually be outside, which will be so much nicer, as we’re expecting quite a few kids to be around the place! As well as adults! And we want to bbq, which would be much more pleasant if we didn’t have to do it in the blistering heat!

So I’ve been busy planning. I find that it is getting a little harder now to have a party for a boy and a girl and still find a good common theme. Anna is a total “all frills and princesses” girl who would be all over a princess party with and overload of pink and cute.

 

Max and his friends would of course have none of that, so it’s a balancing act and the first of many I am sure.

After much thinking and trying to figure it out, I decided that I just wouldn’t have a theme. Or, to be more precise, our theme is at most, 5. Yep, the twins are turning 5 and that is the “theme”

Since this time of year is the beginning of outdoor weather for us here in Phoenix, I am going with bright, cheery summer colors that are sure to please most 5-year-olds. 

 

I had some fabric left-over from Max’s curtains, which will serve as part of the table cloth for the dessert buffet, so I am going with those colors!

 

And no pink. But amazingly, Anna is quite ok with that. It’s a party after all. That’s so much more exciting that color details!

So the first step was done last weekend. The invitations went out.

I made the invitations in photoshop. Some went out by email, others went out by snail mail.

If you happen to have a 5-year-old or two or three and would like to use this invitation, you can download a blank version here. It’s in jpg format, so you can add your details in your photo editing software!

Now I just have to get all the rest done!

I will keep you updated as I go with all the little party projects!

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Things I’ve learned (aka techno hour)

So, every once in a while you come across something in the programs you’ve been working in forever that resolves a workaround or an annoyance and you smack your head and wonder why you hadn’t thought of this before or why nobody TOLD you this before

 

Well, I’ve collected a few of those things just over the last couple of days (a couple of major AHA moments) and thought I’d share them with you. It is however entirely possible that I am the last one to catch on – if so, please just ignore me!

 

1) I am new to the multiple monitor setup. I love it, but I’ve been getting a little frustrated with the whole dragging of windows etc. And since my second monitor is a dual function monitor, meaning it is a TV as well as a monitor and I can switch between the two, it has been highly annoying to have to turn off the TV to go get a window from the second monitor, as it wouldn’t come back to the main monitor any other way.

I know there are many utility programs out there that help you with your windows and switching of monitors and screens and what not but it turns out that Windows 7 has an inbuilt capacity that takes care of that problem!

Whatever window or program you want moved, have it open, then hold down the windows key and the shift key at the same time and press either the left or right key (depending which direction the monitor you want to go to is) and voila. You just moved between monitors!

SO cool!! Also especially for people like me who have monitors that are not the same size … when you move your window like this, it adjusts itself automatically to the monitor size!

 

2) Windows key + d = Show Desktop How did I not know that?

 

3) Another one I didn’t know but use all the time now: F6 automatically highlights the URL in the address bar of Internet Explorer and Firefox! No more trying to highlight it with mouse clicks!

 

4) If you want to save a URL (website address) in a folder as a clickable link, just drag the website or a link from your browser onto your desktop.

 

That’s it from me! There are of course lots more tips, tricks and shortcuts – these are just some new and “aha-moment” ones for me!

What’s your favorite trick?

I hope you are having a great weekend!

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Weekend Plans And A Canvas Print Offer

The weekend is almost upon us and not a moment too soon I might add!

What are your weekend plans?

I was hoping for some cooler weather (below 100 F,) so we could finally get our yard planted, but alas it is not to be. We had a couple of days break with a storm moving through, but we’re supposed to be right back up to 104 F this weekend.

 

So, I think it will be another weekend of inside projects!

 

On another note, I found this great offer from the Canvas People the other day and thought I’d share:

 

 

I haven’t printed with them myself yet, but I’m thinking of trying. Now I just have to decide on a photo and a size lol

 

Have an awesome weekend everyone!

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The Laundry Project – Take 2!

The other night I accidentally deleted the blog post I had going on this project for days now. Blogging as I went along!

Unfortunately I couldn’t recover it, so here we go with a whole new post!

 

Yes, our laundry! It’s that glorified little throughway that leads from the hallway to the garage. It has two doors on either end and a JUST big enough recess to allow us to put a washer and a dryer there. And, after some considerable searching, one of those divided hampers on wheels!

When we first moved in, there was an old rickety cabinet above it, but it was so tiny, you couldn’t really store anything much in there. It wasn’t even deep enough for a regular sized container of laundry detergent.

You can’t see it well in that photo, but the cabinets also didn’t span the entire wall.

What a waste of perfectly good storage space!

So, initially my FIL put up some of those white wire shelves, spanning the whole length of that wall space. Much better!

But, if you have wire shelves like that, you know they bring a bunch of problems with them! Every time we put something even vaguely heavy on them, they started to bend and bow, even with the support brackets. I couldn’t put crates on it as they would get caught in the gaps upon pulling them out, stuff fell through the gaps and there was always that certain “bounce” that happened when you took something off the shelf, which would make the more fragile things “jump” and at times, fall and/or crack.

So Ian made some shelf boards from primed pine! Nice solid shelves!

No more bending and  bowing, bouncing or things falling through!

I got the green crates on sale at Target. They provide a spot of color and a much needed way to contain the smaller things that accumulate there! And my vases! Of course I vinyl labeled them.

I also allowed myself ONE pretty container, also found on sale at Target! It may be somewhat “wasted” in a laundry room, but it makes me happy to see it there, so it’s worth it :) And it makes the Oxy Clean &  scoop quite easy to get to!

And as organized as the space is now, I really don’t like looking at all that packaging too much though.

So I put up a trusty woven wood blind!  Instant color and texture to any space and all the “business” is nicely hidden!

Ignore the hangers please! We were in mid laundry when I took that photo lol

I had thought of painting the shelves a contrasting color, but postponed that until I decide on a wall color. To be honest, the already-has-to-much-going-on-and-doesn’t-need-to-make-more-work-for-myself part of me thinks that I should probably just leave it since it will hardly ever be seen anyway!

So, that’s the organizational part of the space sorted out. But now I am left with this:

Yep, the big white door to the garage! The laundry door is usually open, so that is the view you mostly get from the hallway.

Pretty bland!

The door needs a good coat of paint anyway. It’s a sturdy door and in good shape, even though a little grubby.

But I think the little bit of wall between the blind and the door needs something first.

I’ve seen all those lovely laundry signs around the place, so I thought I’d put my trusty Silhouette craft cutter to good use (again- seriously this little thing is going several times a day at the moment!) and cut out a laundry sign.

Since I haven’t decided on my wall color yet, I applied the vinyl to the glass of a frame I already had, so I can change the background at a whim by inserting paper or fabric inside the frame as the mood, or my paint color of choice, takes me!

So, now to the door! 

First I thought of painting the door with chalk board paint, maybe just part of the inside, with maybe a decorative frame. Then I realized that wouldn’t work. It is after all a throughway and a tiny space and we just couldn’t have the kids in there drawing with chalk. It would be frustration all around to have them “in the way” of where everyone needed to go!

Since the door is smooth and flat (no paneling) it would really lend itself to … yes, you guessed it, vinyl application. But what?

First I thought a tree. Trees are nice! But I didn’t like it. It just had nothing whatsoever to do with the laundry or the garage!

Then I had an idea. It’s a little on the funky side!

But that’s another post

Have a wonderful day!

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Of Clay Bakers And A Strange Piece Of Furniture

So the other day I went to Goodwill. I don’t tend to find much in this particular one usually since it’s 90 % (questionable) clothing  and the rest is more often than not really poor quality/broken things that are highly overpriced for a thrift store.

Except for when whoever is doing the pricing doesn’t really know what they have there – then you can really get a bargain! Like an almost new Roemertopf (german clay baker) for $7.99 (ususally $50 + for this size) Now I have one for my chicken and one for the bread :)

There are smaller ones available for arounf $30. I saw that IKEA carries them too now!

If you are not familiar with them - clay bakers are really awesome!

Clay pot cookery can be traced back thousands of years, when food in an earthenware pot was put in the glowing ashes of an open fire.

They are unglazed semi porous  clay vessels that have an almost equally sized top and bottom.

You soak the clay baker in water prior to cooking and it makes the most succulent, juicy roast chicken! And it cooks about 1/2 hr faster than in a regular oven too! Or you can use it in the microwave! If you do, I would still crisp it in the oven though – unless you like to “skinless” then you’re good to go!

Soaking the pot makes the clay absorb moisture that changes into steam in the oven keeping the food juicy throughout the cooking.

Dinner is as easy as this: Layer some potato chunks in the bottom, a whole (seasoned) chicken on top. Surround it with some veggies. I usually stuff some lemon and/or onion and herbs in the chicken cavity too, for extra flavor!

Then let it do it’s thing in the oven for 45 minutes . You start with a COLD oven for this baker!

For the last 10-15 minutes, take off the lid, pour off the juices (to make separate gravy if you so desire) and let the chicken crisp and you’re done with dinner. BTW it also cooks pot roasts, lamb, stews, glazed ham, casseroles etc.

AND I use it for my bread baking! I generally make the no-knead sourdough bread, that rises for an initial 18 hrs or so, then after forming the loaf for another 2 hrs before it gets dropped into the preheated Roemertopf. It gives a great oven spring and the size of the Roemertopf allows for larger loaves than my cloche baker!  You can also use a cold oven to bake your bread – works just as well. I just use pre-heated as it works better with the cloche baker and I generally do two loaves per batch  

So, as you can see, I do love clay bakers! I am always surprised that these aren’t better known and used ALL the time :)

 

But I digress! At Goodwill I was in search of things I could use for decorating, a plate or two I could apply some vinyl cut-outs to and some kind of console or bench or low cupboard to go in my office.

It’s meant to house my craft cutter and my ever growing vinyl supply.

I have this brand new office with glorious amount of storage and organization … and then I take up the whole vinyl cutting thing and have no designated space for it Well at least not close enough to the desk! Can’t have USB extension cords running through the room!

 

I found this curious little thing there. I have no idea what it was meant to be originally.

 

 

But I liked the basic shape, it was a little dusty but otherwise in good condition and I had a vision of what it would look like once I was done with it! The table top looked like it would happily accommodate my craft cutter (it does)  and the 12 inches it needed on either side for the sheets to feed through.

And … the top is solid old marble! Yep. It weighs about 3 times as much as the rest of the table does. And they wanted $9 for the whole thing

So, since I am vaguely better today, I have to do some catching up on all I missed around the house and with designing the last couple of days and then I’ll get to work on this strange piece of furniture!

Have a lovely day everyone!

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Things change!

Turns out I can’t tolerate Penicillin anymore! Who knew!

I don’t generally take Antibiotics if I can avoid them and even though I have a family history of Penicillin intolerance, the few times I’ve had them in my life – I haven’t had a problem!

Apparently things change!

 

This has knocked me out in the worst way yesterday and I’m still on pretty shaky ground today!

Hopefully I’ll be back “up and running” by tomorrow and back to projects and designing!

Have a great day everyone!

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Halloween decorating

It seems the blogosphere is in full swing on the decorating front. Halloween is upon us sometime in the next 6 weeks, and it has everyone brimming with ideas.

I have never been much of a Halloween decorator. It’s not a holiday I grew up with, so I guess I’m having trouble adapting on this one. I am warming to it however, especially now that the kids are more aware of it.

But I think I need to ease myself into it all and since I do like to decorate a little for fall (which we don’t really get here) I want to combine the two to an extent.

So I thought I’d show you my favorite decorating ideas I’ve seen so far. As you can see my tastes this year tend towards the more elegant and neutral/fall colored direction, rather than the gory black and orange.

1) An abundance of decorating ideas on { marthastewart.com } of course. All of the ones I have chosen would be neat table decorations for Thanksgiving too!

{Lace-Patterned Pumpkins}

{Pumpkin Vase}

{Mini Pumpkin Scarecrow}

{Pierced Open-work Pumpkin}

Aren’t those lattice pumpkins just divine? I’m planning on doing a couple like that this year, probably with funkins, so we can enjoy them again next year! And my kids are all over this cute little scare crow!

 

2) Next up is the { Crow’s Nest Wreath Corner } by Stephanie Lynn.

Love the simple elegance of this, with just a tad of creepy thrown in!

Click through to find the tutorial on how to make the Crow’s Nest Wreath!

 

 

3) {House of Smiths} has the cutest shelf display. Love this collection of somewhere-between-cute-and-only-slightly-scary things!

My favorite would have to be the plates though! What a totally neat idea!

 

4)  {Sawdust and Paperscraps} has these spooky candle holders, made from old lamps!

 

5) I also love the idea of these {Halloween Topiaries} at the Crafty Sisters Blog, even though I think I would get in trouble with the kids as they are not edible!

I did however make a similar thing last Christmas with red and green spice drops and candies. To make the display edible I used halved toothpicks to secure the candy on the styrofoam cone/ball. I think that could work with some of them here too. Nevertheless though – edible or not, these are just such a cute idea!

 

 

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

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5 random products

(… that are far from life changing, but still rock my world)

You know how every once in while you come across something that is really quite unimportant in the grand scheme of things, but you still love it so. I don’t mean the big stuff, like a new appliance you couldn’t live without anymore, or a software program that rocks your work flow.

Just little stuff. Stuff that makes your heart happy, your danish pastry taste better, your chocolate melt slower, your eyes brighter or your waste line more forgiving. Actually I think that last one would have to go into the “big stuff” category for me lol

Anyway, here we go. Completely random. In no particular order.

And please note that I’m not affiliated with any of the sites or manufacturers mentioned … I just love them for one reason or another :)

1) Since I now have this awesome new soaker tub, I needed some good soaking suds of course! Well it’s not that there’s a shortage of bath bubbles out there but there are various levels of good. For me, some of the best I’ve found are the Deep Steep Bubble Baths.

A little goes a long way on these, the bubbles stay until the end of the bath, even after you shampoo your hair etc They smell really good too! The ingredients are all natural … and … no bathtub ring!

My two particular favorites are the Lavender Chamomile (very relaxing) and the Melon Tangerine!

I’ve seen them on a number of online places, but the best price I’ve found on Vitacost.

We’ve been getting our supplements from Vitacost for years and the flat shipping rate makes getting the heavier stuff really cost effective, including bubble bath :D

 

2) This stuff.

It’s really not much but the subtle combination of butter, vanilla and a little bit of citrus just gives many sweet things that certain extra something!

3) Now this one may fall into the category of TMI. lol

I know I want to take fish oil supplements regularly. I know they are good for me. I hate fish oil supplements. They keep on coming back on me. I have tried so many different kinds, ways and manufacturers. Even the ones that said they won’t “return” – but alas they did. And who wants everything all day long taste of fish oil??? Not me, that’s who.

Then I found these … and now I am a happy, take-my-fish-oil-twice-daily kind of gal!

Yes, they make me happy. NOTHING returns on me with them. I only taste fish now when it’s actually for dinner! Yay!

 

4) This cream has seen me through so much, I don’t even know where to start.  I have been using it long before I had children, but once the twins came along we really got into it!

We never really had diaper rashes with either kids just by using this stuff regularly and Max’s “acid butt” as we called his allergic reaction to certain foods (within a short period of time his butt would look like somebody had spilled acid on it after certain fruits and veggies) would be gone in no time flat.

We still use it all the time for all sorts of things. The kids always ask me to “put cream on it to make it feel better” whenever there is something going on skin wise. I use it for particularly dry patches too. And when we all have streaming colds … just a little prevents that bright red sore nose! So yes, we love “ the cream” around here!

5) This one is a mixed blessing! It’s my all time favorite chocolate. It makes me very happy! My hips, not so happy!

Until recently I would only get it when I had it shipped in from Germany or when actually being in Germany.

Now we have a  store that carries it almost around the corner. Very dangerous! Fortunately it is however nicely portioned into little bars of only 70 calories, so portion control is a little easier :)

I know it’s supposed to be a children’s chocolate! But I will chose it over the Lindor chocolate! *shock horror* Don’t judge me! lolSo, here are my 5 small random products!

What about yours?

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New Page Masks For Halloween!

I just put another pack of page masks in the store! The theme is Halloween! :)

And here are the masks by themselves.

If you want to have a real close look, please go to the store listing.

{And the pack is 20% OFF right now, so don’t miss it!}

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Bathroom: Before and After

(or the evolution of a bathroom!)

Ok, I admit it … I love some good before and afters.
I even love some not so good before and afters lol
I just love to see the changes. Improvements. Decide if the changes made something better or worse, etc.
And yes, for a while there I was pretty addicted to HGTV lol It’s pretty much a before and after kind of channel!

Anyway, we’ve done a LOT to the house since we bought it two years ago. Some massive changes, some more subtle and some are still ongoing.
We’ve not only made structural and decorative changes, we also tried to make the place a LOT more energy efficient. And a little greener – literally and otherwise ;)
But I will come back to the energy efficient improvements around the house in a later post!
Our house was a typical 1986 house. No insulation to speak of, the windows were a joke, the water heater was wasting energy and with the hard water pretty much on it’s last leg etc. The other typical 80s thing was cheesy brass fittings everywhere, fake gold marble sinks and counter tops to boot. Builders doors, fixtures and the dreaded blinds.
Thankfully most of the floor in the house is tiled, so we didn’t have to tear up any icky green carpet! Not that I’m a great fan of the tiles, but at least they are neutral enough to work with most things. And our previous house had brilliant white tiles throughout and with two toddlers, I was about losing my mind, so any type of tile that didn’t show every hair and fleck of dust was fine by me!
So the other day I was going through some of my photos and thought it might be fun to put up a few of the before and afters. Unfortunately I didn’t think to take too many befores and the ones I have are from our initial walk through at the first viewing. But it will give you an idea!
So today, let’s start with one of the more dramatic and more expensive ones. Pretty much everything in there was old, broken and outdated and really not worth the salvage!
And the problem to boot is that there is nothing “master” about this master bathroom. Another thing they did in the 80s. Tiny bathrooms! So, the challenge was also to fit in storage in there without making it look tiny and crowded!
So, here is the photo from the initial listing (sorry, a bit small) and one that I took on the walk through:


I did a mini make over, which made quite a difference for the feel good factor in that little bathroom, but it was still missing the bath tub of course and all the issues were still  present. I just beautified it all a bit. But I always knew it was temporary :)
I painted the white cupboard a dark brown and changed the hardware on the cabinet.
Took down the mirror wall and chose a smaller mirror. Painted the walls a cheerful green, changed the faucet, put up a stripy shower curtain and put up mirror tiles in the shower cubicle to give the appearance of more space.


Then, 2 years later, we brought in the big guns.
And this happened:


Yep, we went right down to the studs and started over.
But then really good things started to happen :) Our bathroom isn’t even 5 ‘ wide. I am 5’ 11”, my DH is over 6’. So obviously we couldn’t go long, we had to go deep if we wanted to have anything like an actual bath! And it IS deep! I real soaker!
I can’t begin to tell you how I had missed having a bath tub. A good soak sets so much right for me and my world!

And we ended up with this after it was all said and done!  Want to see that again? Ok, here we go:

Before:

After:

 

Gorgeous, right?

The accent mosaic border is from the left-over glass mosaic backsplash in the kitchen !

Ok, one more time!

So, that’s the evolution of our master bathroom! I think I can call it a master now. It may not be big, but it is masterful :)


Linking to:

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