what we made today...

don't you love how i said that so optimistically, as though we make something every day? hah!

this evening as i pulled some play dough out of the cabinet for kenna to play with to distract kenna as i cooked supper, i thought about her how i had tried to imprint her tiny little feet in clay when she was just about finn's age. i had bought a little kit from babies 'r' us & was pretty disappointed at how difficult the clay was to work with... not like play dough which is so soft & squishy. [not to mention that little infant hands & feet love to stay all balled up instead of nice & flat for imprinting- very hard to maneuver by just one person!}
then i thought about the little dried up play dough chunklets i had cleaned up from under her craft table where they had dried overnight...

hmmn.

so i hijacked the bright pink & blue & mixed them each 50/50 with some white to make a more baby pink & blue. i rolled it out flat between wax paper & then stepped finn's little foot right into it. after realizing my big grown up girl was too big for either a footprint and a handprint [how is that possible?!?] i ended up doing her thumbprint.
i pulled out some regular old alphabet stamps to do their names [kenna's initials]. i had to stamp the letters nice & deep for them to show, & i actually thought the edges of the stamps made cute little squares in this case, kind of like baby blocks.
ohh teeny feets. love.

now, before you mistakenly think me some domestic maven of craftiness with a 2 year old & 3 month old in tow, i wish i could post a picture of me putting these quickly together all while supper risked burning in the oven, the baby squalking very loudly to be fed & cleaning up the giant dollop of yogurt spilled on the rug.

and we'll have to see if my lovely play dough ornaments are just a crackly dried-out mess by morning!

quickie kitchen craft!

i am the first to admit how horrible i am at meal planning. it's one of those things that seems like it would be simple [chose meals, make list, buy groceries, cook meals] yet i'm classic for coming home with a cart full of groceries and 'nothing to eat' because it feels like all i bought was a couple bags of chips, some yogurt, and a box of trash bags.

so i started trying to write out my weekly menus on a magnetic white board on the fridge. that lasted for all of a week before i was writing out everything i ate weekly in an attempt to start losing baby weight. [fail.]

also? i hated how the cheapo walmart white erase board looked on our black fridge. so boring. so i'd seen this idea all over blogland & thought it would be a lovely little diy alternative.

before:


after:

so, in a quick free crafting minute [in between pretending to clean/organize my studio as i've been needing to do for months!] i pulled out the following:

a white 8x10 picture frame

[clearance from target for something insane like $1.82]

an 8x10 piece of pretty scrapbooking paper

some self-stick magnetic strips

[also purchased from walmart to help the cheapo white board stay on the fridge. they happened to be exactly the perfect width for the edge of the frame. hurrah!]

stick it all together... instant quickie pretty functional kitchen craft that i like SO much better. you just write directly on the glass of the frame & wipe away!

ps. as you can see i gave up with food listing of any kind all together and just went for pretty. and that verse? perfection for a busy momma with a new-ish wee one and a crazy toddler.

not rocket science, but quick fun crafting nonetheless!

papoose.

while i'm getting a little bit of fun stuff done here & there, here's where my little man has been hanging out, snuggled up on the couch behind me [i like to sit & craft on the floor in front of the coffee table most nights]:
i like hearing his little huffy-puffy not-quite-newborn-anymore-almost-an-infant noises while he sleeps.
[he's not as suffocate-y as he looks. just snuggled.]

love him.

eee! excited.

so.

i'm finally getting a bit of a chance to work on some new pretties...

i've been making good friends with the ginormous pile of felt that's been waiting in my studio for the perfect moment... and by perfect moment i mean the 2 hours or so i have between the kids napping at the same time including laundry & all that other non-crafting stuff i need to do]. this is what my studio trash can looks like at the moment... all that color has to mean something good, right?
and i nearly cleared out my paypal account thanks to the lovely offerings at fabric worm and hawthorne threads. i decided i wanted to spring for some new fabric for this new line of products rather than counting on the stash to do everything i needed. i couldn't be happier with this big pile of brightness that arrived on my front porch this week!

& here's a sneaky little sneak peek of what's coming... cryptic, i know. i'm SO excited!

mother's day handmade!

there's something extra special to me about a handmade gift. it doesn't have to be anything fancy... a sheet of paper stickered and scribbled by my little girl is definitely a treasure! but sometimes it is extra fun to be given something handmade that is a bit of a splurge, made extra valuable by its beauty and meaning as a gift.

that describes my mother's day gift from my family perfectly! i'd had my eye on this etched on my heart charm necklace from bon bon charms for months now... stamped in sterling silver with mine & hubby's initials on it. well, look what came in the mail just a few days before mother's day:
isn't it lovely? i love the simple little packaging as well. i immediately started wearing it, and it looks perfect with the silver "k" necklace matt gave me when kenna was born [that i've worn almost every day since then!].
i even had it on the morning i gave birth to finn! see it hiding down there under his giant sweet cheeks? [that was literally right after he was born!]

they make the sweetest little jangly noises when i walk, like a tiny windchime. all i need now is a little "f" charm to go with them!

happy mother's day!

spring mantle inspiration!

i saw this photo on a really great blog [really great because j.j. is not only a fun crafter with cute style, but an amazing singer/songwriter]:

firstly, let me say i can hardly get over this mantle itself... the stone fireplace? the adorable painting? the chunky ledge & oh gracious those huge corbels. LOVE.

not surprisingly, it's pretty similar to another inspiring mantle from the lettered cottage i wrote about awhile back:

note to self: i still really want to make a ginormous chalkboard. & a numbered plate.

so once i regained consciousness from my corbel envy, i got to work on my mantel, using what i had on hand... starting with several thrifted freebies from not too long ago- a broken up old window frame, and a mini chalkboard & wooden letter. well, truly starting with one very stark white empty mantel:

the reverse side of the window frame had some lovely old chippy, very pale blue paint on it, so i layered it right on top of my mirror. then i made the letter into a mossy monogram with the help of a little dollar store faux moss leftover from christmas:

these mossy letters are a pottery barn knock off that have been showing up everywhere because they're so cheap & easy to make! all i did was cover the letter with my 'squiggle & squish' method- one nice big squiggle of hot glue & then squish the moss into it. repeat section by section until it's covered! i added a length of pretty jute ribbon the the back & loosely knotted it for hanging:

[next time i would paint the whole thing green first so that the letter doesn't show through & the back isn't so ugly! i didn't even think about it until i hung it up & you could see the back in the mirror.]

see what i mean? whoops.
but it's so pretty when it's done! i glued a little moss along the edges to, to make it a little fuller & to be sure the edges were covered.
then i wrote a little spring message on the chalkboard & tucked it off to the side. [& you can see the perfectly chippy blue paint!]
nothing fancy, but better than nothing to fill up all that white mantel space! it's a little pastel-y for my liking & could use some big hurricane vases or urns or something on either end, but it'll do for now. especially knowing that summer is just around the corner & i'll want to start all over!

easter basket love!

easter is rapidly approaching & it's one of my favorite holidays. maybe even more so than christmas when it comes to celebrating the life of my savior... if you think about it, it's pretty amazing to celebrate his birth [christmas], but how much more so to celebrate the fact that he would sacrifice his own life on the cross to save mine? [easter]

i have to admit, i think easter baskets are a fun tradition for the littles, since death & resurrection are kind of deep topics for them at a young age. not that you can't start teaching them early, but i think it's cool to focus on the new birth & life we have through salvation in Christ- a major gift he's given believers that we celebrate on easter.

so, if easter weren't like, you know, this weekend i'd be using this tutorial for a wrapped piping basket by v & co. to make coordinating baskets for the kids. however, the only way i see 2 easter baskets getting made is in the dead of night between a.m. feedings.

in other words, not likely.

but look how cute.

and look how easy! although i do find v & co. in particular great for making not-so-simple stuff look as though it is really easy & no big deal- she's just talented that way. hers look uniquely homemade but not cheapo crafty & sit so sweetly and well-constructed on the table holding eggs. i'm a little concerned that mine would look wrinkly & slouchy & would be sure to be covered in melted chocolate & jelly bean slime before i could even get a picture for the blog.

[please tell me someone else has that problem too?]

but yes. definitely on the "one day" list.