musebootsi

It's new/old to me!

2012-01-24T13:08:00.000-08:00

New stuff in my etsy shoppe! I've been both busy and lazy! I posted ten new-old items but I've been collecting them over the past month.

And if that photo is any indication, I still don't make any sense.

Check it out here:
musebootsi on etsy

Color Addict

2012-01-23T12:08:00.000-08:00

One thing I'm not afraid of is color. Not even a little. Even when a little fear might be a good thing.

Is it even possible to add more color to my kitchen?

Anycrap, that is reason #467 that I love Disneyland. I can't stop looking at the color combinations! Like one of the cars on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was coral and orchid, which my brain would never put together, but looks amazing! And then, the teacups!

I want my backyard to look like that! All bright with lanterns and cups!

And this:

This might make the neighbors crazy, but it's all I want! Don't you love driving up your driveway around Christmas time? Your home covered with tiny lights looking so pretty and festive...

Maybe if they were up all the time, they'd lose their splendor, but maybe they'd make you endlessly happy! I guess we'll never know...

Also, I had to add a pic of my fireplace before the screen debacle. I got really tired of looking at my design mistake!

That yellow swath is the future room color. Someday...

Goin' Down the Bayou

2012-01-21T09:30:00.000-08:00

I've been sort of "off" in my crafty-osity lately. Like, a lot.

For example:

Somehow, in my head, painting the firescreen with high temperature paint in an amazing color was far awesomer than in reality.

But, wait! There's more! Before I decided to go blue, I went orange!

Did you think it couldn't be worse than the blue? My new theory is that the screen needs to be either dark or light, but no medium tones. Like maybe a navy would be better? Maybe.

So that happened and I still haven't painted it back to black again. And it knocked me on my creative keister.

Yesterday, I had another idea that may or may not be awesome. But it was cheap. So I went for it.

At the thrift store I saw a bunch of cheap-o vases in lots of colors. Together they looked pretty cool. See:

They were all less than $2 each. They reminded me of something I had just seen at Disneyland. In the French Quarter section, hanging off the balcony was a series of colorful bottles with twinkle lights tucked inside. I made a mental note to keep my eyes peeled for things I could use to eventually create that in my backyard.

And then, there I was, at the thrift store lookin' right at them. Except that instead of twinkle lights, I decided upon the solar landscaping lights.

A year or so ago I made one of those ubiquitous ball jar sun lamp things. And it worked just fine. Except that my kids opened it and rain got in and I eventually threw it away. But I knew the process.

This is a little different. You need:
Colorful Vases (or you could use that mod podge method of coloring your own)

Clear silicone

Solar landscape lights

I took the lamp part off the body and placed it on the top of the vase. Most of them rested just inside the vase and one was a little too small. I could've bought a bigger lamp, as they come in a few different sizes. But I just put a ring of clear silicone around the narrowest spot, waited for it to dry and used that as a ledge to hold the lamp in place. Then I siliconed around the fixture to both hold it in place and to keep water out of the vase.

Here they are in daytime in my yard:

And

The pink one on the far left is a little weird in daytime, but at night, you can't see the solar deal so it all works out.

Here is the best pic I could get of my yard at night:

The green and blue lights are the brightest. But they all look really pretty and colorful.

I think I need more, lots more.

Edited to add: The day after I put them out, it rained! Whatevs, southern California! I noticed that the solar panel on my particular lamps tends to let water into the containers. So maybe a small bead of silicone around where the solar panel fits into the metal housing? I'm gonna fix it right after morning drop-off today!

Show and Tell Friday on My Romantic Home

The Shabby Creek Cottage

The Thrift Home

Someday Crafts

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Ollas for me!

2012-01-10T10:36:00.000-08:00

While stumbling around the internet, I came across an article on ollas. (Pronounced oy-ya). "An ancient watering system that delivers water directly to the roots."

I became obsessed with them. Living in the high desert it's impossible to get enough water to my plants. The hot, hot sun evaporates whatever doesn't run off.

To use the olla, you bury it in the ground with the neck sticking out then fill with water. The terra cotta sweats the water into the soil and to the roots. Place a stone over the opening to keep bugs out and fill once a week!

Plus they're pretty!

The best part of all of this is that while searching, the video and the store where one can purchase the ollas is local! Like down the street!

If you're into gardening, check out their website:

Urban Homestead

Here's a link to purchase an olla:

Olla!

Or make your own!

DIY Ollas!

We are in process of getting our garden ready to plant delicious heirloom tomatoes. So anything garden-ie right now is hittin' my sweet spot.

Also? Downton Abbey. That show just gets me.

(edited because "leaches" usually means takes away from soil. So I was saying, "the olla takes water away from the soil to the soil." It was crazy enough for me to note for you...)

Aqua Woman

2012-01-06T18:20:00.000-08:00

I'm slowly starting to paint all the windows and trim at my house. Slowly because I just ran out of paint. And slowly because it takes me a day to prep and paint each window. Sanding and sanding and filling and sanding and taping and painting and sanding again.

I think it's going to look amazing. But right now, it looks a little crazy. And I know the neighbors are all thinking, "That's...interesting..."

It doesn't help that I've ripped out all the plants. And that the trim is still that hideous rusty-brown.

Here are the colors we chose...scroll to the bottom...

Don't you think this window needs shutters? Maybe I can make some fake ones! Like zeeeeesse...

Or ooh! Wood!

Or Purple!

Stripes?! Are you kidding me?! Love!

Yellow with circles!!

My snowball is getting bigger!

And I'm becoming a shutter-in.

Look what I made! John is not a fan...

Okay, so I made it really fast and it looks crazy. If you step back and squint it looks A-MAZING!

Forgetful Elephant

2012-01-01T20:08:00.000-08:00

I made this super awesome box for my sister-in-law for Christmas. But I was so excited about finding a box that fit all the presents and was small enough for cheap shipping that I forgot to photograph it.

Now I want one for myself! Maybe a pillow. A pillow that I keep in a hermetically sealed lucite box to stop the kids from ruining it. That'll look so pretty on my sofa!

And, yes, the marigold necklace is all french knots. Thanks for noticing!

Sublime Stitching pattern Om Sweet Om. Which I just found out is no longer available. The new one doesn't have the ganesh! Sad face emoticon.

The Table Guy

2011-12-31T17:07:00.000-08:00

John and I finally finished our table! We started it a month ago maybe? I don't remember. It seems like forever ago.

We used our old picnic table and old redwood studs we removed during our kitchen redo. I tried to find a pic of the old table and discovered some awesome stuff.

Cousin Jessica carving pumpkins! We totally miss you, Jess!!

After a hail storm:

Before the raised bed and miniaturized:

Baby Bee!!

So, we took that table and cut it crosswise giving us the pieces for the top. The legs are two actual 2 x 4's screwed together.

Now I just have to find chairs...or talk John into building a bench. John sure is lookin' handsome these days!

Boxes Day

2011-12-23T07:32:00.000-08:00

I stitched these boxes up for our (monthly?!) Treat Yo'self Festivities. Whereupon my lady friends and I get together, (monthly?!) to exchange little nothings and talk about how awesome we are. It's a lot more fun if you're one of the awesomes...which is pretty easy: show up...and be awesome.

Each box was specific to the person. So, that's who my friends are: a diamond, a raven, an art deco tulip and a cameo.

Sublime Stitching Patterns: Roaring '20's, Gothic Grandeur, and Embroidered Effects.

Rockin' Around the Zippered Pouch...

2011-12-19T18:28:00.000-08:00

We are giving our teachers gift cards this year and I thought it might be nice to have a little pouch to put them in. So I grabbed my infinite pile of felted sweaters and got busy.

After I added a needle felted design, I used some iron on adhesive to iron the fabric to the felted wool. It's paper backed so you iron one side to the fabric, peel the paper off and then iron the fabric to the felt. It's pretty and it keeps the wool from stretching as you sew.

Then I added zippers! Which was hard!

But they're cute, right?!

Blue Trio Cups

2011-12-15T09:56:00.000-08:00

I just added these little cups to my etsy shop! How cute are they? Hot chocolate never tasted so good!

There's nothing worse than wanting everything you put in your shop!

Poker Box

2011-12-06T09:19:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to post this for awhile. But my electricity went out and I got the flu. It was like being Amish, but, like, if an Amish person was injected with an alien who lived inside their stomach and made their life a living hell. Except worse.

On the plus side, I learned that I am a master fire builder. So there's that.

Moving on to embroidering boxes...

Aren't they cute?! And the boxes alone are pretty cheap. You just need the patience to poke some holes and you're all set!

The first thing I did was get a small paper mache box*, around 3" in diameter, and a pattern. This pattern is from Sublime Stitching's Winter Wonderland. If you are registered at Sublime Stitching, you can purchase pdfs. They are a bit cheaper and almost instantly in your inbox. It's delightful! And since we are poking, you won't even need to transfer the design as you would with fabric! So you can just print and poke!

Next you tape the design to the surface. I used a painting masking tape and took a bit of the tack off by sticking the tape to my pants first. Sounds crazy, but you don't want any paper coming up with the tape.

Then you poke. I use a thumbtack with a rubber top. After poking for awhile with a regular thumbtack, you're fingers want to commit suicide. So do yourself a favor and find a comfy one.

For where to poke, I poke a hole at the intersections first, then at long stretches of lines. If it's a continuous line, I poke the ends, or intersections, then the center, then the center of those. Sometimes you have room for two holes, where you divide by three, sometimes you just need one poke. Just try to get them even.

When you're done, you'll have a bunch of holes punched that make no sense. Keep your pattern piece to refer back!

Now find your embroidery floss and some tape. Thread your needle and cut a few tiny pieces of tape. I used the same making tape, but I didn't untackify it.

You can tape the end of the floss to the inside of the box away from any holes and away from the edge. Then pull your floss through and you're ready to go!

Some intersections end up with quite a few threads going through. The snowflake, for example, has 6 threads coming through the center. You can kind of make the hole a bit bigger with your thumbtack if it gets hard to pull your thread through.

About halfway through...normally I try to be a little neater on the back, but this snowflake was so small I just went for it.

When you reach the end, you can use a second piece of tape to secure the other end. If you're awesome, you could use the same piece!

Here's an example of a larger box with lots of colors and tape:

To cover all that mess, I add a pretty piece of wool felt.

To get the perfect circle/shape for the box, I measured the inside and used open office to create a pattern. I just make a 2-3/4" circle and printed it. I'm sure there are better ways, but this is the fastest and easiest for me.

See, a circle out of paper!

To cut it out of felt, you just tape the circle to the felt. I would use smaller pieces of tape than I used. Like maybe five skinny pieces that stick out like a kids sunshine drawing. Below is the wrong way but the gist is pretty close!

If you do it this way, you'll miss the curves. So do it the sunshine way and we'll all be happy.

See? Pretty. To attach, I use spray glue. Which, I know, caustic horribleness. But! It keep the stitches together and safe. And it doesn't leak out through the holes. Just spray a light coat on the felt and then attach.

And now you have your super cute little gift box! And it was cheap and easy! Right?

If you don't want to make them, I have some in my etsy shop!

*I've done this with a paper box, but it's not quite rigid enough to withstand the endless poking.

Also, the embroidered lady is from The Roaring 20's pattern at Sublime Stitching.

Circlie Garland: Holiday In

2011-11-27T17:21:00.000-08:00

I've had a bunch of felt circles sitting around my house for five years. I remember them being expensive which meant that I was waiting for the perfect craft idea. I couldn't just stick a needle in them! Do you know how much they cost?! So silly.

I originally wanted to blanket stitch around the outside and connect them to make a garland. I think I put that project off because it was a LOT of work.

So I decided to just sew them together.

First I had to figure out what order they were sewn in.

It actually took me a while...Then I got Hartwell to make little piles for me while I sewed them.

The sewing is the easiest part! The machine just sucks the circles under!

Here they are on the tree:

Full tree:

I would've loved a shot of the whole garland when it was finished. But this morning I was awakened by a bouncy four year old who asked, "Can we decorated the tree now?" So as soon as it was finished, it took about 30 minutes, it was wrapped around the tree. And then covered in ornaments.

Flowers of Felt

2011-11-27T16:55:00.000-08:00

Yay!! Another felt ornament! Just something to do while I watch nonsense at night...

These petals are about 1-1/2" tall. (If you're wondering about the red line around the pattern, just remember, it's not too smart to use white paper on white felt).

First, cut an odd number of petals, I used 9, but 7 also works, (and 8 looks good, too, for some reason). I used wool felt but felted sweaters work, or anything else...

Now we just pinch the base in half and pull a knotted, matching bit of embroidery floss through all nine petals.

To finish, pull the needle through the middle of the floss by the first knot. Pull it tight and knot the thread but don't trim it. You can keep the needle threaded and use it for the next few steps.

You're left with a floppy little flower.

I fanned out the petals a bit, left side:over, right side:under:

Now you have a cute little flower! You could stop here and make a brooch or a headband or some pasties! But we're gonna sew it to felt circle. The circle I traced using a glass, the glass a former jar of Bonne Maman Jam.

Once the flower is stitched on, I just attached the flower at the center of the circle, you can attach buttons! Or felt balls! Or whatever!

Finally, I blanket stitched around the circle starting and ending with the bit of ric rac felt I used for a hanger. Then I leave my last knot showing because it's handmade! And we should be proud of our handiwork!

Just think of the excellent color combinations! The possibilities are endless!

That just makes me want to buy shoes. Mmmmm...shoes...

Can't Catch Them...

2011-11-18T10:35:00.000-08:00

That's Hartwell after eating the gingerbread man he painstakingly decorated. Turns out, that's all they want to do.

Hartwell worked really hard and created his guy all by himself!

Bee got help from a higher power, his dad.

Guess which gingerbread man belongs to which kid...

(The gingerbread men are from Trader Joe's)

Sigh...Sickenin' Eyes...

2011-11-13T09:25:00.000-08:00

Still a work in progress, but I'm calling her Katrina after a friend I have with the same art deco palette colored eyes.

From the Sublime Stitching Roaring 20's pattern.

Dolly Carton: All is Calm

2011-11-10T11:43:00.000-08:00

Another container!This one with more pills!

It's in my etsy shop right now!

Valley of the Matryoshka Dolls

2011-11-08T14:18:00.000-08:00

Another embroidered gift box! This one bigger and more complicated! Just like me!

You can find it in my etsy shop:

www.etsy.com/shop/musebootsi

Also? I am now a licensed Sublime Stitcher! So excited! We so excited! Look for more of Jenny Hart's designs in my shop!

Soul Survivor on the River

2011-11-03T17:39:00.000-07:00

I just realized it kind of looks like a campfire. It's not, it's a lotus. So, nam myo ho renge kumbayah, I guess...

It's another embroidered box. This one a molded paper that was much easier to punch.

Skip to my Lou!

Thanks, Meatcat!

2011-11-02T19:39:00.000-07:00

You know how sometimes you're going along thinking you're doing a great job at that mom thing and then you're late to something and you lose the directions to the school project? I hope not. It does not feel very good.

First, I was late to the Halloween parade which meant Hartwell was the only one in the whole class without his costume. If you know me at all you know I am never late, ever, this was a miscommunication in scheduling. They send home about 8 pieces of paper with the exact same info and maybe one of them tells you something new. And that's the page I didn't read.

Then, I realize Hartwell's Dias de los Muertos diorama box is due in two days. And I didn't have the coloring pages that Hartwell is supposed to color and cut out. I put them in his homework folder for safe keeping and they were removed when he turned the folder in! Not wanting to pull a second FAIL! in a row, we went to Michael's in search of leftover Halloween stuff to make our box. Did you know Michael's no longer carries any crafting supplies? It's like a room full of floral centerpieces and Christmas villages. The superstore and its "stock what sells" mentality is driving us all back to the local, independent craft stores. Just like I planned! Ah-hahahahahahaha!

So, after buying a whole lot of NOTHING at Michael's, we went to the 99 Cents Only store. Don't be fooled, it's actually the .9999999 cent store, which is a dollar! I am not stupid! But they, at least, had some skulls and skeletons.

Down the street form the Just Call it a Dollar Store is an awesome fabric shoppe that I knew would have dias de los muertos fabric. Hartwell picked out two fabrics and we drove home all pumped full of righteous indignation and shouting anti-corporate sentiments! "Why you such a bitch, Michael's!" exclaimed Beckett*.

Back to dead day box, Hartwell and I tried to think of someone to make the altarpiece for. First, he suggested "Maggie and Audrey's grandpa." Which I thought was adorable, and a little creepy, but mostly adorable. We don't have a ton of relatives who have passed away/our extended family lives far away. So he doesn't know anybody who has died. I suggested my Grandma Lylia. Bee was really upset to hear my grandma had died.

Grandma Lylia was my vintage/antique/fabric/embroidery shopping companion. Most of what I know about that stuff came from her. For the "picture" above the altar, it was explained we could do something that represented the person. So Hartwell learned to embroider and made an "L" for Lylia.

It turned out pretty cute, for a dead person memorial. It was much harder than it looks as everything I bought had to be spray painted or somehow fixed.

After I finished the project, which was a couple of hours with red paint and spray glue covered fingers, I got an email that explained that the Dias de los Muertos boxes will be due on Friday. As in I now had three more days to finish the project.

Blergh. I need a Cheesy Blaster.

*not really.

Holey Sugar Skull!

2011-10-30T08:54:00.000-07:00

My friend asked me to make the raffle ticket box to go with the DIY Christmas ornament kit I made for the raffle. I said, "Sure," while the intersect searched for what a raffle ticket box looked like. Then she said, "You're probably gonna do something really cute."

"Well, I am now!"

So I bought a box at a thrift store and cut the top edge down to make it shorter. Then flipped through my book Embroidered Effects by Jenny Hart, found the sugar skull pattern and began poking holes in the box with a thumbtack. The box had a lot of layers, including a glue layer.

Embroidering paper was a lot easier than I thought. Like when I messed up, I just pulled out the stitches. And it doesn't ruin the fabric. Because the holes are already there! Maybe I won't do lazy daisies again, but otherwise, good times.

After I finished embroidering, I had to make it a ticket receptacle. The ticket slot is a little crooked and I accidentally sliced the top while cutting it out. And don't get me started on the inside!

I heard people liked it more than the kit I was raffling!

Skip to my Lou!

Petting Zoo

2011-10-24T12:48:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned that we don't really watch tv anymore? In the traditional sense, I mean. So I have to find stuff to watch add it to a queue and then hope it's as good as the stars have indicated. Or decide whether or not to believe netflix when they recommend me stuff. Which means I have a lot of down time. Waiting for disc two of seaon 3 of Chuck? I guess I'll watch Jamie Oliver...again...

That means I get bored. So, unless I just sit and internet for a few hours, which just makes me want to buy stuff, I have nothing to do.

I thought to get back embroidering again before Christmas and went to etsy to try to find a fun pattern to stitch while I watch Jeff Goldblum solve a mystery. And I found this:

Petting Zoo by Cathy Gaubert

which made me immediately stop. The girls in the pattern look exactly like Deborah's three girls! Crazy! Well, now I have to do it.

I bought the pattern and stitched it and now it's hers.

I think the hardest thing was choosing the dress colors. The teal shoes were a given...

Feliz Felt!

2011-10-20T11:39:00.000-07:00

Getting in the crafting mood!

Also, I offered to put together an ornament kit for a school raffle. You could win this:

Now I just need to write the instructions...that's gonna be interesting...

Skip to my Lou!

2319!

2011-10-18T21:58:00.000-07:00

Vision Quest II: The Prequel

2011-10-13T10:22:00.000-07:00

Last night I wandered into zillow.com and looked at houses. I drive by a few and I wanted to know how much they cost. And maybe look inside. I found this awesome house I want to marry. You have to ignore the furniture. It looks like Ruthless People up in there. Most homes had the WORST furniture. Red stained woods, black leather, glass coffee tables...Maybe everyone's selling their homes because they really want new furniture?

All that home lookin' made me think about the guy in The Secret movie who bought the exact house from his old vision board without realizing it. Which reminded me of the house I had on a "vision board" when I was in high school. Which was actually a book, an awesome Young Women style puffy book. With edgy fabric and lace...

The house I wanted in 1994 is not in anyway like the 2011 house I want. And that's best.

Also? Tucked inside that very book were pages and pages of clothing I had designed. Tons. On any scrap of paper I could find.

Would you like to look inside? Brace yourself...

Guess where I worked?

It gets worse, here's the bad...

The red one in the top left is actually the dress from "Fancy." Satin dancing dress, split from the side clear up to her hip, velvet trimmin', and a heart shaped locket.
That crazy orange one is a redesign from an orange velour thrift store find. And let's just not talk about the red hearts over boobs number.

My brother went to The Citadel.

Dresses I actually made. The one on the left was for my sister.

This one was for Jill. I think she had shoes that were green and gold. She loved those shoes...

This was my prom dress. I didn't design it, Bill Blass did. I think it was the first time I manifested shoes. I really, really wanted navy Kenneth Cole shoes, but the ones I wanted were sold out. My mom and sister found the last pair in my size at a random Robinson's.

Here are some notes from Economics. I got a pity D. I wonder why...

And now, My Dream House:

Ah...back when I was headless. I didn't count on all the cake haters.

Here is the floor plan of my Georgian Mansion. I still love that staircase.

Next, I give you the decor for The Gathering Room. Do you like neon?

At least the purple couch is still awesome. I've always loved a curved sofa. What is with that dog table? And the matching light up phones?

Oooh! next is the marshmallow sofa....

And a wheelbarrow full of flowers? That seems Elton John excessive. But those wavy lamps are keepers. I'm positive I've seen them at a thrift store lately. Next to a The Club and a Bedazzler.

Oooh! Bathroom! Do you like marble?

It's labled "Tinkle Room." What was I, a babytalking bombshell? Gross.

Moving on to the Kitchen. Actually, shockingly close:

Wainscot, pretty dishes. No blue, but still!

Here we have the Den...wait for iiiiiiiiit...

Zebra wallpaper, leopard carpeting, a sofa made out of cartoon animal fabric. If it weren't for the fact that I still want the camel sofa and leopard carpeting, I would be really embarrassed. Maybe the stuffed animal monkey is a bit much...

Let's go upstairs and check out the master suite.

My moms words still go through my head when I see this. "Looks like a Victorian whorehouse." Never has she been so right. I guess I really wanted to be an unmarried romance novelist. In fact, there is no trace of a man in any of these plans. (Except my dad, that's later). I love high school feminist Courtney, she was awesome!

Take a right and we enter the kids room. Please look at how I labeled the page.

Kiddie Room (I think). Didn't want to scare off any potential mates! I better put, "I think." Now this crazy book won't freak them out! Also, Hartwell would frickin' LOVE that Barbie car.

Let's relax in the backyard, shall we...

A hammock for my dad. And a birdbath? I lived in Arizona, it's too hot for birds in Arizona. That thing would boil a bird. We had lizards. That's it. But! I did marry a birder. So there's that.

I'm actually really glad I still have the book. It's embarrassing, but sort of affirms where I am now. I'm a designer, interior, not clothing and I still cut out pretty things I like and keep them in books. Or on pinterest. Turns out I've always been a very visual person. Something I learned only recently even though I've been doing it forever.

Also? The past is awesome. I don't want to go back, because, really, the clothes are crazy! But, I look at that book and remember what I wanted to accomplish and think, I have so much to do now.

Things I Will Have Wednesday

2011-10-12T11:24:00.000-07:00

I know! Most people enjoy the alliteration of Things I Want Wednesday, but then I'll spend eternity wanting and not having. (P.S. I just watched The Secret movie again).
So have I will. Just like Yoda.

A silpat mat so I can make this. I had one long ago, but it got very used.
A food mill. So I can make this.
Fabric so I can recover that chair. This one or this one.
And this. So I can be truly outrageous. Truly, truly, truly outrageous.

We have pie in vodka.

2011-10-11T13:10:00.000-07:00

Fall somehow brings out my inner chef. I'm always so hot and tired in the summer, but at the suggestion of fall I go into a cooking frenzy.

Oliver's Twist is about the only thing I've been watching lately, which isn't helping. Hartwell likes to read the episode titles and then choose the one we watch together. I knew that kid was gonna like cooking!

Along with TV, I've also been reading food blogs. Like Choosy Beggars and Thursday Night Smackdown. Which are deliciously entertaining!

Last weekend I found a recipe for Pumpkin Spice Vodka and all I wanted was to do was make it and then put my face in it. ..as an astringent...

Looks like Beckett beat me to it.

"I was in charge of cups!"

2011-10-10T20:58:00.000-07:00

Lots of pretty new/old stuff added to my etsy store...

Find it here:

musebootsi on etsy

When life hands someone lemons...

2011-10-07T18:26:00.000-07:00

make them peanut butter cookies!

I threw a batch of these together for a friend who once told me her favorite cookies were peanut butter flavored. And because peanut butter cookies don't work with natural peanut butters, I got to buy Jif. (I'm a choosy mom). That stuff is delicious! I got a little on my finger and it was like eating peanut butter frosting! It made me rethink my anti-peanut butter stance. Which is similar to my anti-banana stance. Stop putting it in everything!

Not surprisingly, I'm also against the fork criss-cross thing that usually happens on a peanut butter cookie. I've always just used a juice glass to press them flat. That was before my mom bought me this awesome cookie stamp.

Which is especially perfect if your friend is also Norwegian*.

*She's about 8 times more Norwegian than me.

In a pickle.

2011-10-05T21:17:00.000-07:00

John and I have been taking the boys to the farmers market every Saturday. It's full of deliciousness and next to a playground, fun for everyone!

I used to walk through a farmers market and look at stuff and not really buy anything. Or we'd buy food that we ate as we walked. But for some reason I have been actually buying stuff and taking it home and making stuff with it. It's weird!

First, it was an apple chutney. Do yourself a favor, make this and then thank me. And bring me a slice of whatever you make with it.

Next, I found pickling cucumbers and sliced them and made refrigerator pickles. My grandma made some once and I remember instantly going from pickle hater to pickle lover. Have you had refrigerator pickles? Lord, they're good.

Next up? Pickled jalapenos. John mentioned he wanted to make some but was intimidated by the canning portion of the recipe. Luckily for him, I've been reading about canning lately and feel like a genius!

So I donned some gloves and sliced away! I chose this recipe from Purple Foodie because of the pretty pictures and the pink peppercorns. I'm a sucker for color!

We made one jar that went straight into the fridge, think crunchy fresh, and a bunch that will marinate until Christmas. (Act surprised!) John has already eaten two jars and I get the feeling he's pacing himself.

I've found a bunch of other recipes I want to try. Including a strawberry jam and an infused vodka. My winter is going to be delicious.

Once you paint black...

2011-09-18T20:30:00.000-07:00

Not long ago I saw a photo on pinterest of a gray bathroom with a black mirror. I was mesmerized. I may have commented, "That's it, I'm painting my mirror black."

This weekend I found some black paint.

I should mention that it needed to be painted anyway, as Bee found a dental scraper thingie and scratched wolverine lines into the white paint.

As usual, I've created more work for myself as now the back of the door and the trim will be painted black.

It looks a little harsh in the photo, but in person it looks more chic than sharp and a lot cleaner.

Which makes the bulbs in that lame-o light fixture look hideous and old. If I replace those, I bet I'll want to spray paint the fixture a more modern color, white maybe.

If you give a Courtney some black paint...

Mobius strip designaturgy, my favorite.

Did you say, "orecchiette?"

2011-09-13T19:12:00.000-07:00

Ever since watching Gordon Ramsay on the UK version of Kitchen Nightmares, I have been obsessed with the simple looking pasta dishes. They always looked so fresh and delicious! And Gordon would always say how easy it was.

Cut to Trader Joe's carrying the orecchiette, or me suddenly noticing it sitting on the shelf. I googled a recipe in the store and and found this magical gastronomical delight! It became John's favorite and I make it once a week.

Sausage and Spinach Orecchiette
(adapted from Sunset Magazine)

I pkg. orecchiette pasta*
2Tbsp butter
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 lb. chicken sausage removed from casings
1 lb. cherry tomatoes, halved (we used an heirloom cherry tomato!)
1 bag (8oz) spinach leaves
crumbled feta

Put the orecchiette on to boil, then: saute the onion in the butter, delicious! Add the garlic and sausage, yum! When the sausage is cooked through, add the tomatoes and spinach. Stir until the spinach is wilted. Add the cooked pasta.

Use the feta as a garnish on your plate.

*the orecchiette tends to stick to themselves in the form of a stack of bowls. Stir as soon as you add to the boiling water and keep stirring occasionally. Or just use farfalle.

It's so simple and delicious, especially when made with our free compost tomatoes that just showed up in the artichokes.

Bonkers.

2011-09-10T22:17:00.000-07:00

Yep.

Business in the front, party also in the front.

2011-09-06T10:04:00.000-07:00

Hartwell just started kindergarten and I am meeting a ton of new people. Mostly moms who want playdates or just a way to email another mom with a question. Add to that the etsy shop and this lady is in need of some business cards! Although they should be called something else. I like "calling cards," but perhaps, "texting cards" would be more appropriate.

I've always wanted the ones from Oceans 11 that Danny Ocean carries. They just read,"Danny Ocean." So impractical. And yet...

I looked around etsy and there are so many! Round cards, flower cards and of course cards with birds on them. I couldn't decide and I didn't really want to spend a bunch of money on, like, 50 cards in a design I only kind of like.

A listing on etsy sent me to moo.com, which has some amazing cards and designs. They also print designs you submit. Which inspired me to create that little number. Usually, it's the layout that stops me in my tracks. I can spend hours moving and re-fonting. When really, simple is best. Which is hard for me.

I tried to think of an object that immediately says "vintage" without it being a car or something. And a jar seemed to be the thing. I tried to find a drawing of a jar, but they were so cutesy. So I thought to make my own. Often, when I have something in my head, I can't translate it to paper. Which is to say, I ain't a good drawer. Enter Sketchbook pro for iPad. I just found an image of a jar and traced it on a new layer. It's slightly more complicated because I was learning as I drew. Which lead to a lot of badness, and not the good kind. But I think it's my new best friend. So, thanks, Lynn!

I also updated my notecards. Here's a pic of the set. It's the best I can do for free, but not too shabby.

I think a new paper cutter is in order. The edges are a little shaggy.

Now, I just need friends. Takers?

YOU need a craze-cation!

2011-09-05T21:56:00.000-07:00

For John's birthday we went on a crazy, last-minute vacation. We drove up to Refugio Beach, which is north of Santa Barbara, for a crazy picnic and some fishing.

Waaay before kids John and I would take Barkley up to Malibu really early in the morning. He would kayak, (John not Barkley. Basset hounds can't swim!) and I would sit on the beach and read terrible magazines. Then he'd come back and we'd cook out sausages and eat homemade pasta salads and cake. Pineapple upside-down cake, to be specific.

Usually, because we were so early, it was overcast and sometimes drizzling. So it became Crazy Picnic. Because anyone else would just stay home.

Back to the latest Crazy Picnic, we arrived at the beach around 9 and it was capital "c" Cold! Some kind of freak storm must've been pushing through because it's early September and we were freezing!

To warm up, John helped the boys build a river from the stream to the ocean:

Then he went fishing for a while and we sat at the picnic table and had snacks and shivered.

Bee was the coldest:

After sausages and chocolate cake, we drove to our hotel. The only available room in the area was in Lompoc. What to say about Lompoc? There are a lot of murals. Their downtown area is probably pretty nice when things are open. John coined it Radiator Springs. I think it needs a little love.

We ate at the China Bowl, which has been around since 1946.

It was pretty amazing. Food not too shabby for the middle of nowhere. We actually over ordered and still paid under $40. Mostly I liked the decor and colors. Here is a fountain-ie shrine deal with a giant cherry tree:

Orange curved wall with pink rook tiles? Thank you.

Our most favorite thing was the jukebox. It had Patsy Cline, Rod Stewart and Sisco. Because nothing says "Chinese food," like the Thong Song. Hartwell had fun picking songs and even found fifty cents in the coin return! Yay for free songs!

I know you want to know how you get $7 of free food. If you spend $40, you get eggroll. We fell for it. Deliciously.

We returned to the hotel and the boys swan while I nearly passed out in the amazing bed while watching Tom Hanks chase Ewan McGregor. That thing was like mama bear's bed. A little too soft, but also just right.

The next morning we went to breakfast in Solvang. Danish pancakes and sausages.

I went to a Christmas store and bought some Russian ornaments, hung out in a used bookstore, and found a delicious craft store full of dreams!

Oh, and this happened:

and this:

"Would you like a glitter tattoo?"

"Yes."

"What would you like? A skull?"

"Yes! Wait. A rose! A rose!"

"What colors do you like?"

"Pink and purple. And red!"

The lady never asked us. We just sort of sat while the kids were made beautiful. It made them so happy.

After that, lunch and aebelskiver. I went native and had a crazy danish open faced sandwich, which I knew would be the thing my Norwegian dad would have ordered.

Then we drove home. Hartwell kept saying stuff like, "Next time we stay at that hotel..."
I think Lompoc is a one time town, sorry Hartwell. But it did remind me of how much fun we would have if we vacationed up the coast with a little trailer. All the awesome California towns with crazy restaurants waiting for spider man and Lydia, the tattooed Hartwell.

Caramel Whisper

2011-09-02T20:03:00.000-07:00

For John's birthday extravaganza, I decided to make his cake. I almost always plan on making everyone's cake and then there are kids everywhere and I get overwhelmed and then buy a cake.

But this year, I saw a chocolate cake with salted caramel frosting, and, well, it's over.

I had a list of everything I needed to make the Ina Garten style chocolate cake, but then decided to make a cake from a box. I ended up with a fancy cake mix that came with a separate packet of ingredients to swirl into the batter. Whatever, cake mix. I sort of adapted that cake mix into the Ina one by simply substituting brewed coffee for some of the water. I'm hoping it'll add a bit of depth to the chocolate flavor. We'll see. The cake is currently within my reach, but not within my mouth until John gets home.

Did I mention I made 3 eight inch cake layers? No? Well, so, I did. I just divided the batter into three bowls and then baked two, washed a pan, baked the third. I really wanted to use the 6" cake rounds, but I didn't want to have to buy the pans. I liked the way 3 thin layers worked better anyway. So there.

Then I started making the salted caramel. It was waaaaay easier than I thought it would be even if the recipe was written by someone who made it all the time. "Amber color" can mean many things. My first batch had a distinct burnt sugar flavor, which works, but it came from waiting until the sugar was amber. I would say wait until the sugar starts to color a little bit, a light amber, then take it off the heat. In my mind it needed to be as amber in color as that dude's walking stick in Jurassic Park. And I remembered it being a rich, brownie-yellowish color. And then I remembered the door handle slowly moving up and down. Clever girl.
This is the light amber color:

It also told me to be careful when adding the cream to the hot sugar mixture because it will bubble up. Ah. I prepared for that with a terrific pot. But the steam that shot up as I tried to stir, I was not prepared for. So, yeah, hot, bubbling steam tries to attack you like that goo in Ghostbusters 2 as soon as you add the cream to the blazing hot sugar. And no amount of Jackie Wilson is gonna stop it.

After all that you kind of stir and stir until it cools. Then you put it in a jar and give some to Deborah.

The icing was kind of magic. It started like any other frosting and then WHAM! caramel. So delicious. I'm trying to think of something better than caramel and cream cheese together and I just can't.

Speaking of waking up before you go-go, the coffee really came through in the final cake. Hartwell took a bite and exclaimed, "Coffee cake?!" I asked him how much coffee he's been drinking and he said, "Two. But on the weekend."

The cake was delicious and we still have a bit of the caramel left for ice cream next week. It worked out perfectly because John didn't get a cake at work today. So the cake overload will be tomorrow. Morning, probably.

First Day of Kindergarten!

2011-08-31T09:23:00.000-07:00

And first day of preschool for Beckett! Hartwell is going to a dual language immersion program where he will be taught 90% in Spanish. We are maybe too excited about this.

Beckett is enrolled in a preschool with his betrothed, Jane. Since both schools start at the same time, John took Hartwell to school and I took Beckett.

Shelf-ish or More Stuff That Fits In My Car

2011-08-29T09:12:00.000-07:00

I had an idea for a larger piece of furniture for this spot skipping around the back of my head for a while. No idea what I wanted. No clue where to look. Didn't even have dimensions memorized as I usually do. I just walked into the Goodwill and saw it and decided it would work.

I did measure at the store and then extrapolate the empty space since I knew all the other measurements. My living room is like space-window-window-window-space-door-space. I happen to know the window measurements and the end space and door measurements. So,...SUBTRACTION!

It looks good, though, right? For a $30 cabinet with doors that hide the games and puzzles. And mess.

But, wait! There's more!

You know how if you stand still in my house long enough you will be painted?

Well, that cabinet sat still.

I took off the back and painted it aqua! I love red and aqua! So happy!

I know it looks a little crazy with the green wall, but it's going to be painted butter yellow pretty soon. I swear!

Birthday. Dough. Nuts.

2011-08-26T08:06:00.000-07:00

For Beckett's birthday breakfast, I thought we'd do something fun and special so we made birthday doughnuts! Why, Hartwell, why? He poses like this on purpose because he thinks it's a good picture. Oh, and his shirt is on backwards. And Bee is wearing an eye patch. Nuts.

Remember how lazy I am? Here's how easy birthday doughnuts are to make. Also? I was so tired I didn't realize my lens was blurry:

Ingredients:

Canola Oil

Grands Refrigerated Biscuit Dough

Then we added:

Glaze

Powdered Sugar + Milk

Maple Glaze

Powdered Sugar + Milk + Maple Syrup

Cinnamon Sugar

Duh + You Know

I stretched and slightly flattened each biscuit and then cut a small circle into each biscuit. Or Bee did, blurrily:

Then popped them into the hot oil. (They say 375 degrees, my oil was a bit too hot. I think maybe medium low would be best if you don't have a thermometer thingy for the oil).

The doughnuts are pretty easy, just set them in the oil and turn them when they start getting brown. For the holes, I plopped all of them in and just kind of stirred them until they were a uniform color. Then I scooped them onto a cooling rack set inside a jelly roll pan. You could also use paper towels, but those are like currency around here.

Super Happy Doughnut Boy!

Super easy and pretty good flavor for biscuit doughnuts. I made a biscuit monkey bread recently and they tasted like biscuits with cinnamon and sugar. But these were pretty close to actual doughnuts. Which goes with the theory that everything tastes better fried!

Legoland!

2011-08-26T07:37:00.000-07:00

Beckett is a lover of all things lego. So for his 4th birthday we went to Legoland! Here he is at the Lego Volvo Driving School. Hartwell was bored and Bee was a terrible driver! I realized that Bee likes control. He is in full control of his body at all times. It does what he tells it to. But put him in a car and he freaks out and drives into a wall. (And there is NOTHING wrong with that. It happens, people!)

Here they are posing with their new drivers licenses! Right after Bee fell...

My biggest problem with Legoland are the crazy, random rules specific to each ride. Some are 4 and 36", some are 4 or at least 36". It was a pain in the butt to parse each sign down to whether or not Beckett could go on the ride. Luckily he was perfectly happy running through the sprinklers!

Log ride!

Star Wars! Nice R2 Unit! Hartwell is really into posing like a nutcase/Barker's Beauty:

Bee meets his hero. And kisses him:

So I had to do this. I miniature effected Miniland.

While waiting for his big brother to go on a scary ride, Bee wanted me to photograph him.

Bee did NOT like the slide:

Meanwhile, Hartwell was tall enough to drive a boat by himself!

After Beckett was unceremoniously told he couldn't ride a ride, his dad bought him a knight outfit:

Which helped him vanquish his enemies:

Napshot

2011-08-26T07:07:00.000-07:00

Paint me baby, one more time.

2011-08-15T17:30:00.000-07:00

So the house was Navajo White. With Aqua trim and taupe windows.

Then I painted it charcoal. Lovely:

John didn't like the dark charcoal. Sad face emoticon.

So I picked green, Saguaro to be exact:

My absolute favorite. Loved everything about it.

John didn't love that it makes the trees disappear. I have big plans to plant aloe in front of the window and it looks so blah now.

After a week of looking at the green, he wanted a gray. A lighter gray than the first. So I sighed heavily and went in search for a gray. John wanted a blue gray and I wanted a beige gray. Let the color arguements commence!

Luckily for me, John saw a "mushroom" colored house and loved it. By mushroom, he meant beige gray. So we tried Warm Stone:

Courtney FTW,...almost.

Now the foliage doesn't disappear, I get to keep the aqua and John is happy the house isn't dark gray.
I just need to keep him from looking at any other house. Ever.

Big Trouble in Little Tokyo

2011-08-15T17:14:00.000-07:00

The fellas and I were in search for a birthday gift for Madie, everybody's favorite cousin! Since she's a big fan of art and Japan flavored stuff, we took the train to Little Tokyo to shop.

The boys planned out our route at the station:

We shopped and shopped, and found a cool bag for Madie that zips into a little pouch. Then we filled it with cute little somethings; including a sponge shaped like a cat, a set of glitter chop sticks and a bunch of chocolates and candy.

All that shopping made us hungry, so we walked over to a little sushi place, The Frying Fish. When we all walked in, we discovered it was a tiny sushi bar whereupon the sushi circled the bar/island on a conveyor belt. Hartwell screamed, "Mom! That's a conveyor belt!"

Hartwell was so excited to be able to just grab food off the belt and eat it. He ate mackerel. And tuna sashimi. Bee ate 2 plates of edamame, one of which was grabbed when I wasn't looking. The sushi chef even did magic tricks for them! I really should have been paying more attention to the plate prices. It turned into a $50 lunch...of joy!

Here we are dancing on the mirrored ceiling:

On the way home we stopped for a snack. I wanted cupcakes, but Hartwell wanted to go to the coffee shop we usually stop at when dad is with us. So they had water and a brownie. And I had a giant latte full of espresso.

Today Hartwell told me when he grows up he wants to be a sushi chef...and work at The Frying Fish.

Big Restaurant More...is right!

2011-07-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

These cupcakes are the heart and soul of the latest entry from chefs and brothers Hartwell and Beckett Pollard. These superstar restauranteurs have turned the restaurant concept on its head by serving delicacies such as Egg Sauce and Cheese and Butter Tacos with Salt. Eating either is like eating delicious air.

The service by maitre d'hotel Hartwell Pollard was exceptional! He added the perfect amount of sugar sprinkles to my diet coke. And my square beignet was tasty.

I look forward to more envelope pushing by these incredible gastronomists.

Casual Dining (Chefs are shirtless)
Reservations are now being accepted. Visa/MC, No out of state checks accepted
$$$$$$$$$$*

Secret Diner Video available here.

*Cheese and Butter Tacos with Salt run a hefty $2,000,000

Tim.Ber.

2011-07-29T08:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I charged up the reciprocating saw and chopped down some trees. See that thing in front of the window? That's the boys room and it blocks all sunlight that could peek through. Making their bedroom like a cave.

Also to the left of that is an overgrown oleander. Which I hate. So that came down too. Plants shouldn't mess with my lighting plans.

I wasn't sure John would be with me on the foliage removal. I told him and he didn't sound convinced. Usually it's because he can't picture it. So I just did it. I went to find the saw and it took me awhile to find the battery and I thought, "John doesn't want to leave me alone with power tools!"

But, look!

Much better! My plan is to fill that little bed in with aloe vera plants. The green of the plant looks really pretty against the grey that will soon cover the house. And it's very architectural. And don't forget low maintenance.

You can also see the house numbers I painted,...which I will have to paint over soon.

Housing Projects

2011-07-29T08:41:00.000-07:00

Since I am neither subtle nor subdued, I had to do something about these paint colors. Taupe and Sage? What was I thinking.

So I thought aqua would work. (See how I waited until air conditioner time?)

It does not work. There's something off.

So I added the grey from Cameron's fabric:

Hey! I did pretty good!

So. What do you think? I love it, Autumn loves it, Amanda loves it...John hates it.

Hmmm...

The A's have it!

He's only gonna break-break your break-break your mug...

2011-07-25T11:36:00.000-07:00

That's all he's gonna do, woman.

Flowers, chocolates, promises you don't intend to keep...

2011-07-24T08:06:00.000-07:00

I didn't think this cup could get more Disney-fied. If it comes to life, it still has to sleep in the cupboard.

Women Be Shoppin'

2011-07-18T18:33:00.000-07:00

I have a new store on etsy! It's more like this place as it likes vintage and is called musebootsi!

After perusing my own collection, which needed thinning out, and trying to come up with a new project in my spare time (ha!) I decided to get a little crazy and sell some vintage delights!

So I squeezed all the info I could out of my friend, who has her own successful eBay shop. She's a genius! I'm going to see how it goes on etsy for now.

My favorite part? I get to go shopping. All the time. Yay! Okay, not all the time. But enough.

I decided to only sell things I would put in my house, things I may not be able to part with. It'll be a lesson in letting go, fer sure.

Click over and check it out!

I'm calling this an alien, a big headed aloe vera...

2011-07-18T10:51:00.000-07:00

I've always loved succulents, mostly because they are so architecturally beautiful. A little because I think they are aliens from another planet. How else do you explain ice plant and it's ability to take over any landscape?

Trust me, they're just biding their time until the invasion. Hopefully, since I take such good care of them, they express their love for me in flowers, I will not be one of the many taken into slavery and then cracked open to help soothe their sunburns.

Summer Colors

2011-07-18T07:18:00.000-07:00

I'm sure I need to repaint this. But I just can't do it.

Kolor Kismet

2011-07-18T07:14:00.000-07:00

There I was, pinning away, looking for color inspiration for my house. My neighbor loves my colorful garage and when I showed her the taupe and sage window on the side of the house, I could tell I had let her down. Sad face. I had similar feelings about it, but this was the simplest solution. And I didn't want to start from scratch. And yet,...So I went looking for something else. Something perfect for our cottage bungalow.

I searched "aqua and gray" and found a few houses with gray and white and aqua. And then I found this fabric:

Instant love. The beige instead of white makes it less "NEW HOUSE COLORS" and more like it's always been that way. Like the khaki kind of grounds it and makes it less "fresh" and more "vintage," which is all I've ever wanted. And I won't have to clean as much.

I was showing John, who said, "I thought it was too good to be true," referring to the sage and beige that I painted one window. He thought I had finally chosen and it wasn't obnoxious. As I stared at the fabric I had a feeling that I knew it. But I could have just pinned it before, a common problem with Pinterest. So I traced the original post and...AMAZING!

It was designed by Cameron Blazer. My cottage-industrialist friend who used to live UPSTAIRS from me when we lived in the valley. Like, I could knock on her door and watch the food network with her. And sometimes she had dinner parties where she made sushi from scratch. And we shopped together and inspired each other in many, many ways.

Of all the pins on pinterest, I pinned her fabric as an inspiration for my home. Looks like we can still inspire each other even with all those bloody states between us.

Swim Lessons!

2011-07-11T09:59:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite parts of swim lessons is when the boys jump in the pool. Hartwell usually belly flops and Bee looks like a superhero!

Going down the slide also good.

But I could never get Hartwell's timing. He was too fast!

Here they are with their swim teacher:

I still can't figure out how he could hold them up.

Fireworks!

2011-07-11T09:52:00.000-07:00

My friend has the best Fourth of July Parties! Here are the boys watching the fireworks. The first year no one cried!

Malibu Father's Day

2011-06-23T15:41:00.000-07:00

The boys got their dad a picnic kit for fathers day and that morning, dad conspired with them to go on a beach picnic. Which was a little odd until I spotted the fishing gear in the back of the car. That's the boys checking out the bait.

It was overcast and a little cold and the waves were huge. But they stood next to dad while he waited to catch nothing.

Diaper Ninjas

2011-06-23T15:29:00.000-07:00

The many faces of Bee.

2011-06-23T15:25:00.000-07:00

Peonies again?! Yeah, because I wanted to show you what was going on in my kitchen at the time.

Beckett, Captain of Lego and warm chocolate was chillin' to the right. So I took advantage and told him to make faces for me. Mad:

Happy/Baby New Year:

Angry:

Laugh:

What's 2 x 2:

Full Circus

2011-06-23T14:38:00.000-07:00

Where have I been? I know! It's been sort of a whirlwind of adventures and tears. A few weeks ago, when John was sporadically always out of town, I swooped in and stole Hartwell away from pre-school for a mini Disneyland vacation. My boys like two things: Disneyland and hotels. They play hotel in their bedrooms. With key cards and a concierge. We stayed in the cheapest room at the Grand Californian and it was pretty delightful. Totally worth the extra $50 to stay in the park-ish.

These photos are the only ones I took those two days. They are enjoying a cotton candy reward because Hartwell pooped on the potty! There's more to it, but I'd hate to ruin your current cotton candy association.

It was their first cotton candy. (Okay, I bought them some once in a bucket, but it hardly compares to the delicious beehive goodness of a mound of sugar on a paper cone).

I love how messy Hartwell's face is compared to Beckett's clean one. So like them.

Next up, heliport! Our local heliport held an open house. The kids could check out four different helicopters, a SWAT truck, an official police dog, and get a free wiener! The pilot was really nice and explained what everything inside the helicopter does, how fuel is measured in pounds and showed him all the radios they use, (NOT to listen to Lady GaGa, I asked). The pilot then asked if Hartwell had any questions, and he surprised me by saying yes. His question? "Um,...I went to Disneyland!"

I call this one "Melee at Yo Gabba Gabba Live."

"White male, 52 inches tall, grey shirt, driving erratically."

Ahhhh, deep breath! After spending two weeks alone with my knuckleheads, I hopped on a plane to Seattle to visit my mom and dad. ALONE! No children, no basset hound, no responsibilities. As vacations go, it was really great and I highly recommend it. I think my next vacation will be flying somewhere with some girlfriends, splitting hotel rooms, doing stuff I can't do with kids. My boys are still perfectly happy to go to the beach, but I'd like to go to the MOMA.

I took this photo on the two hour drive to Leavenworth, Washington. A lovely mountain town founded by Germans. Really cute and full vacation satisfaction. Quick note, people will get mad if you post it on facebook as "Germany-ish" and will tell you that they could see a USA Today. The jig is up!

We mostly shopped and ate and, of course, drank coffee. Most of the stores were sort of Christmas or German, there were a few sassy vintage modern places, and one store that sold imported Russian items. My mom talked to the guy for awhile, as she is a collector of the lacquered boxes that he carried. Turns out none of hers are counterfeit because she bought them in Germany in the 80's. Good to know. Will addendum!

I bought a carved wooden bear that has a ball and string hanging down and when you move it, the bear puts his shoe on. It reminded me of Hartwell. He still can't put shoes on.

On the way home we stopped by Snohomish, a small town full of antique/vintage stores. I wanted this set of dishes, but I would cry if the boys broke a piece so we kept walkin'.

On Saturday, we took a ferry to the San Juan Islands. A group of islands near the Canadian border that the British tried to snake. Take that, British! That's my dad. We were freezing our butts off on the deck trying to spot some orcas. But they, apparently, were not informed about my vacation. We did see some porpoises. Not as exciting.

Can you see the house snuggled into the trees? Lovely.

I took this one for John. He's a boat guy. As boats go, it was a pretty one.

On the last day my mom and I went back to antique stores and browsed like crazy. My suitcase was fuller than my dad after the Friday night seafood buffet, so I wasn't able to purchase more Pyrex.

I returned to Los Angeles Sunday night at midnight, after leaving my phone in Seattle and having a mini breakdown in the airport. Why are there no clocks? ! You'd think a person at an airport would enjoy a clock or two! And no phones! I had to search for a pay phone to try to catch my mom before she got on the freeway and was carried away by traffic undertow.

My phone was mailed the next day. Mostly I missed my watch and solitaire game.

A few days later, Hartwell had a birthday party to attend. A pink princess birthday party. So he and I designed a bag for his friend. He picked pink swirl fabric because it was just like Pinky Dinky Doo.

And now we're back to peonies. The last ones lasted almost two weeks, so I bought another bunch for the kitchen. Magenta.

Delicious.

Peony Raid

2011-06-07T08:26:00.000-07:00

Trader Joe's has peonies! For $6.99!

I love that place.

Photo Shoot!

2011-05-22T18:39:00.000-07:00

Photo shoot day! Lots of running and giggling and screaming and jumping. And yet I was still able to get some good shots.

Hartwell:

Beckett...much harder to photograph...He was "busy."

And even Barkley:

Here are the two photos that best represent their personalities:

And

Chalkboredom

2011-05-21T10:06:00.000-07:00

Everyone was busy yesterday so I decided to paint my thrift store coffee table. I think I paid $15 for it on some 50% off special. Its partner is still in my garage awaiting my genius/oops paint spectacular.

Someone pinned something similar on pinterest the other day. A chalkboard table. I had thought of that while staring wistfully at my bargain but nixed it because of the chalk dust and the idea of seeing the chicken scratch of two non-writers would distract me too much so I'd always be cleaning it. But, you know, boredom, monotony, the thought that if I left the house I'd be spending money all came together in my head in an explosion of energy. It's like my super power. Boredom turns into creativity. At least I'm not Aquaman.

One of the reasons the table was $15 was because it had large gouges scratched into the top from what I can only assume was a dwarf werewolf. Small paws and all that. So I had to bust out the wood filler. It dried pretty quickly in the 10am sun of southern California. Two passes of that with sandings in between left me with a pretty smooth top.

The top wasn't as smooth as I wanted so I sanded between coats. I did around three coats and finally switched to a foam roller to get a clean top coat.

Matte black!

This photo is after I primed the top with a piece of chalk. I just rubbed the chalk over the entire surface. Otherwise if you write something it stays forever until you evenly apply the same amount of chalk to the surface. So if you write, say, "knuckleheads" it will be there for months before it finally fades. Plus, now it looks a bit like a fancy zinc tabletop.

I like the dark gray better than the matte black.

I had a friend stop by to help carry it in and before the legs hit the floor, Hartwell found the chalk and got busy.

Also, I realized that I was absolutely right, I have to wipe it down every night or go insane at seeing the mismatched scrawling from the short, drunken frat boys who live in my house.

Salad Days Garden

2011-05-19T15:23:00.000-07:00

John built a raised bed! With mole blocker! That's what the chicken wire is supposed to do...

Very exciting, but then we had to fill it. Lots of options. We decided just to buy a yard of potting mix and a couple of bags of "chicken poop dirt."

Here's the dirt arriving:

The boys helping us wheelbarrow the dirt:

The boys helping stomp the dirt:

It's all fun and games until someone steals your shovel:

I decided on a sort of salad bar garden. I wanted tomatoes and bell peppers and herbs and stuff. We also chose vegetables that the boys would enjoy watching grow like corn and artichokes. And John wanted hot peppers. Three kinds of hot peppers.

While we wait to decide on what kind of tree to put in the ring, we planted for artichokes. They should grow pretty tall and kind of take over the space. Acting all tree like.

I also bought some seeds and am waiting for them to sprout before I plant them. Sunflowers, basil, radishes, carrots...more stuff for the kids to maybe like if they grow and harvest them.

This would be a lot easier if sushi and cupcakes grew on trees.

Afternoon in the Garden of Color and Insanity

2011-05-09T16:41:00.000-07:00

This weekend, John built us a raised garden bed for us to plant vegetables. I've selected a sort of salad bar concept for the vegetables, i.e. tomatoes, lettuce, radishes, bell peppers, onions, etc...

But before we could buy the plants, John hopped out of town and there is no way I'm planting anything without a second party present.

1. Too hot. I need time to see where the sun is over the bed during the day.

2. I have no idea if things should go together or be faaaaar apaaaaart...

3. That's a lot of money to spend without coming out of it with new shoes.

So I ended up buying some thyme (that works on two levels), and some other cool succulents I found.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that my garden and backyard are a work in progress and most likely this will always be so. But in vignettes, it's pretty. So here are a few I noticed today:

This last one is a plant that Beckett selected at the nursery. He just sort of grabbed something and said, "Here, Mom!" But it turns out it's the perfect foil for all the green and bright colors everywhere else.

Crazy Boy Day

2011-05-08T12:42:00.000-07:00

So hard to organize a photoshoot for these knuckleheads. Which is why these are the most recent photos of the boys. Crazy Hair day.

Transparency Art!

2011-04-24T13:23:00.000-07:00

BHG Do It Yourself magazine* featured an art project using transparencies and a printer. Which gave me an idea for a large scale art project for my house. But first! I had to test it...

Here's what I used:

Regular Gel Matte Gel Medium

inkjet printable transparencies (amazon!)

printer

paintbrush

spoon (for burnishing)

canvas (I used an 8x10 simply because it's photo-sized)

I found a photo with enough color, but not too many details that I thought could work for this project. I adjusted the color, making it really saturated with a high contrast. That helped keep the colors from blending together.

Before:

After:

Then I printed it on a transparency sheet using the "highest quality" and "photo on matte photo paper" selections. This helps get a lot of ink on the transparency. (If you have words on your photo, you'll need to reverse print it. I did this simply because I know the photo and don't want to view it backwards forever).

Once the photo has printed, spread some gel medium on the canvas where you want the photo to stick. I covered the entire surface, but it might be neat to leave brushed edges or change the shape. Use a thin, even layer. My first try, the gel was too thick, resulting in this:

Yuck! It smeared Hartwell's face and some of the transparency ink didn't stay on the canvas. You want this:

Nice, even application.

Place the transparency ink side down on the wet gel and sort of finger press to get both surfaces touching. (It doesn't move around once it's stuck down. It comes up a little as you rub, but lays back down in the same place).

Now use your spoon to burnish the ink to the canvas. Just rub in circles with medium pressure. Since my canvas was already wrapped on a frame, I placed a book underneath inside the frame so I could press without the canvas pushing in too much.

Once you've covered the whole surface, peel back a corner and see if it's working. You can kind of see what's sticking as you burnish, because it's transparent.

Keep going until you have the look you want. Since mine included people, I really wanted the faces to look normal.

Here is my bad canvas:

And the good one:

This video at metacafe really helped. Except for the thin layer part. I messed that part up to help you.

*I'd link to them, but they told me they had plans for a raised garden bed on their website and it wasn't there and the website acted like I was all crazy. So no link to you, Do It Yourself Magazine, if that is indeed your name...

Where failure equals happiness...

2011-04-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

This is so true. And I have created some incredible failures. Take this for example:

Purl Bee had a pattern for a felted potholder. I spent three evenings knitting this little guy, with 100% wool yarn. I threw it in the washing machine and only the green felted. So I tried again...same thing. So now I have a sad lumpy three quarter's felted trapezoid.

I think I'll try again. Which means I get to buy more yarn. And that's always a happy day!

Poster by Marius Roosendaal.

Puppet Show!

2011-04-17T14:30:00.000-07:00

Bunk Bed Puppet Theater!

2011-04-17T14:05:00.000-07:00

John took the boys to visit a high school friend a few weeks ago. The best part of the visit for the boys was the amazing puppet theater they had. It was a stand-alone wooden situation with curtains and fanciness. They also had a microphone and speaker hooked up so the kids really felt like they were doing something special.

There is no way we could have a giant puppet theater in our tiny house, but we could have something like this awesome Doorway Puppet Theater. So I made a bunk bed puppet theater!

It was a crazy pain in the ass. Mostly because it was so big. I used a folded over piece of heavy duty muslin and added ribbons to tie it.

My solution for the center was to sew two parallel lines and cut between them. I might go back and pink the seams. We'll see how "Breakwell & Wreckett" treat it for now...

They've already made me laugh. So I guess the pain is worth it.

There's a new corbel in town...

2011-04-14T14:44:00.000-07:00

We put in a corbel! And trim on the header! And new light fixtures!

In case you forgot, here's the before (featuring my mom and a prybar):

And the middle:

The pots ARE the rainbow...

2011-04-12T17:39:00.000-07:00

Still need violet. Too bad I don't need violence. Got that in spades. Ha. Garden pun. This is what it must be like to live in Darren Star's brain.

Beachy Keen?

2011-04-11T20:45:00.000-07:00

My tiny California Bungalow needs some fresh make-up. I had like a million ideas. I had an epiphany a few weeks ago where I thought "I can keep the house navajo white and just repaint the trim!" Then it won't seem like a crazy project that never gets done. I can work on one window at a time and move as slow as I want.

Sunday I was in my local hardware store, where I learned they can make ANY color of paint I want from any company, and I saw a color card. It featured a creamy white with a sage-ie green and a taupe. It reminded me of my beach phase when I wanted the house to look like a beach bungalow, except with forestier colors.

Before we had a reddish brown on the trim and windows that drove me bananas. And here's what I did today. Spruce and Taupe. It took FOR-ever!

Subtle. Blend-ie. Kind of totally unlike me. But I really like it.

Shake your Buddhas

2011-04-09T15:39:00.000-07:00

The boys love these Buddhas. I bought one for Bee and he took it everywhere. I would hear their conversations and I would be instructed to make food for Buddha.

When we went back to the store we bought them in, Beckett requested another one. So I bought one for Hartwell and one for Bee. When we got home, Hartwell opened his, it was supposed to be light blue, but it was gold. I thought they put the wrong one in the box.

Turns out it was a special Golden Buddha and we won a prize! I went to the website and the boys won a full set of all six Buddhas!

They just came in the mail. I think I need to film them playing with them...it's gonna be good...

Spring Party!

2011-04-08T16:59:00.000-07:00

Pinterest is so amazing! I found these while browsing and made them for our little Spring Party.

Lights. Camera. Spray Paint.

2011-04-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

After pinning several spray painted light fixtures, I found this little guy in a vintage store. It was only $25! (Which in everywhere else money is around $5!) Very exciting.

So I spray painted it navy blue. And it looks good against the coral wall and the white of my hood. But it looks kinda lonely from the other direction...

Maybe when I change the window coverings it'll be more excited to be there...

I have big plans to change the window covering and make a cord sleeve...but I have a billion other things I should be sewing...I'll keep you posted...

Sons of Beaches

2011-04-06T16:02:00.000-07:00

Hiatus started for John so we took a little seaside jaunt. We stopped along the way, for what we call "Crazy Picnic," a term coined back before we had kids to denote the drive-to-the-beach-really-early-while-it's-kinda-drizzlie-and-overcast-to-eat-sausages-with-Barkley kinda days we used to have. I can't imagine going to the beach that early right now. Bananas.

The beach was fun, in photographs, in reality it was so windy we spent a lot of time chasing our stuff down. The boys also spent a lot of time stepping on stuff. Hartwell stepped on a plastic fork tine and Beckett stepped on a tiny hot coal that got away. Lucky we had our bag of Old Indian Tricks*. Along with a flashlight full of beans, John found a special foot rock that helps to heal foot injuries. So the boys rested their bloody and burned feet on it and instantly felt better.

We finally got to the hotel and Hartwell never left the Jacuzzi. Beckett was too cold and wanted to sit inside and watch TV. And was puzzled as to why he couldn't just watch whatever he wanted, but had to watch whatever was on TV. Did not see that coming with my no network TV situation.

Anyway, good times, including a restaurant that had a coke machine that offered 5 different flavors of Diet Coke and a stop at a biker seafood place where Hartwell muttered, "Where's the crab? I didn't come all this way for shrimp!"

*Racist Placebos

Roses are red, windows are green...

2011-04-06T11:08:00.000-07:00

I've been waiting for my window roses for a long time. Training the plant to seduce my window frame. And stopping John from trimming it. Lovely.

Special thanks to Picnik and my old, peeling window frame for the deliciosity.

Happiness, thy name is Fisher Paykel...

2011-03-31T15:45:00.000-07:00

We finally got our new fridge! I am so happy! Want to see something happier?

Egg Cups!

2011-03-31T10:47:00.000-07:00

Bought two of these at Ross. The boys both wanted pigs. After that I had to force my friend Carrie to tell me how she makes soft boiled eggs.

And then I had to listen to the boys ask me every 15 minutes for soft boiled eggs.

That face makes it worth it.

Always buy pretty dishes...

2011-03-30T09:02:00.000-07:00

My dishrack is beautiful!

Cabinet Fever II:Revenge of the Thrift

2011-03-28T13:24:00.000-07:00

I went to the thrift store, as I do every week, immersed in my search for the perfect kitchen cabinet to fit in the 30" opening above the dishwasher. I found a traditional oak cabinet, 24", not gorgeous, but certainly paintable and such. It was only $20 so I emailed John a pic and asked him if I should get it. He told me I should go to IKEA and get what I want. Instead of thrifting, as I had done for SIX MONTHS!!, I could just order whatever...

So I started that search. I used the IKEA software which already has my kitchen uploaded, and picked a few things. Then the truth comes out...

As I show John the many options, (it's me so it really is MANY), he finally tells me that he doesn't really want the cabinets I was looking at, he just hated the thrift cabinet so much, he decided to offer me the crazy option of "whatever" not realizing the cost to get me to leave the store and never look back.

Well, I showed him. I found these enameled metal cubes at The Container Store and his guilty conscience bought them for me.

Darth Bee

2011-03-20T07:52:00.000-07:00

Cousins!

2011-03-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

The cousins visited! Amanda and I took them all over LA looking like sister-wives. Notable things that happened?

1. A lady on the train gave us instructions as to how to use the train because we looked as though we'd never used one before. Even though I used to take it every day for work.

2. Roz from Monsters, Inc. asked if Max and Hartwell were twins. Then friends, then, "Whatever..."

3. A man asked if Amanda and I were twins. (All blondes look alike).

4. In Hollywood, I watched Elvis get a coffee for Spider-Man.

5. The only star on the Walk of Fame Max and Grace could find with a name they recognized was George Lopez.

Beach Photo Vacation

2011-02-25T13:28:00.000-08:00

I feel I'm swirling into a creative slump. Don't know what brought it on, but if I could quote Liz Lemon, "Ahh, my period! You're all fired!"

I never feel like sewing or cooking or doing anything other than laying in the sun on my awesome fake fur coverlet and reading. Mostly I want to go stay at a hotel for a weekend alone. Just me and my iPod and maybe some food.

There should be a Groupon for Momcations (patent pending), where we can all escape, cheaply, money and guilt-wise, and relax watching whatever we want on a TV with nary a Dora to be heard. Maybe there's a cooler full of Diet Coke and Thin Mints. And sandwiches. I love a good sandwich. And an entire King sized bed to myself! A shower without worrying that Bee found a Sharpie! Watching Working Girl or Captain Ron all the way through without pausing to referee a toddler altercation! Listening to music full of expletives! Going 30 minutes without washing my hands or dishes!

Now's the part where I say I'll miss my kids. I might. More likely I'll miss the chaos. Like when I grocery shop without the boys I can't concentrate and end up forgetting things. And wander the store looking for random items because my brain is entirely focused on the task instead of bouncing from kid to kid and keeping all the fruits and veggies out of their hands and scales and then back to my mental list.

Or when I get to go clothes shopping alone, I end up with so much extra time, because I'm not buckling and unbuckling kids and talking them into getting out of the car, losing them in the store, going on the immediate Tommy Lee Jones-esque manhunt, the reunion, the harried checkout, the losing them a second time, etc...with which I do not know what to do.

So maybe I would have too much time. And no chaos. And that would be worse. Because at least in the middle of the chaos I get an occasional, "Mom, you're the best chef ever!" whilst I pour them a second bowl of Cheerios.

Oooh! A blue door!

2011-02-20T15:44:00.000-08:00

Me: I'm gonna paint the door.
John: (wait for iiiiiiit) Shocker.

I am currently looking for a hall runner. Any ideas?

Happy Valentine Birthday, Hartwell!

2011-02-14T07:56:00.000-08:00

Little Pink Cabinets

2011-02-10T08:08:00.000-08:00

I spent a good part of yesterday scrubbing the muck off of my blue dishes. They used to reside on a shelf above a ventless stove. So all that grease collected on their exteriors. I used 3.5 Mr. Clean Magic Erasers, turning them black in the process. But, look! Lovely!

I also got to give Buddha a bath and then have this conversation:

Hartwell: Mom, who's that guy?

Me: What guy?

Hartwell: THAT guy!

Me: Buddha.

Hartwell: Where did you get him?

Me: Gramma Janice got him for me in Thailand

Hartwell: PIE-land??!!

Me (laughing): What's Pieland?

Hartwell: It's a place with pies and NO restaurants.

Here's a pic with all the colors together:

P.S. I like you just fine, but I'm not cleaning my kitchen for one photo.

And here's the before:

Showin' the Pink

2011-02-09T14:21:00.000-08:00

Ahhhhhh...pink. Delicious. I finally covered up the yellow that was starting to crawl under my skin and lay eggs. I think I made a good choice. I decided to go a few tints lighter than the coral on the north wall. Since I'm filling the open cabinetry with a mix of dishes, the coral would be too dark. But the pink is light enough to complement the dishware with out taking over in a bloodless coup. And I really needed something warm over there to bring the room together.

This weekend we have big plans to finish the trim and the painting. And then I can breathe for awhile. As my computer station is facing all the rooms I've just finished. Except I can see a sliver of hallway. Oh, hallway, you have no idea what I'm planning.

The House that Bee Built

2011-02-08T08:15:00.000-08:00

I don't know why his Lego skills fascinate me so. Perhaps because he's 3 and barely has the motor skills to play with them. Or because Bee always builds "worlds" and proceeds to play in them.

I have nothing to do with any of it except I maybe hand him a Lego and watch where he puts it.

If you look in the upper left hand corner you'll see that this house even has an attached garage! Of which we do not have. To be fair, there's also a dungeon window, so...

Pee-nk

2011-02-05T08:27:00.000-08:00

Just a little lighter.

(John doesn't want pink. When my bathroom stops smelling like pee, I'll paint it whatever color he wants).

99 color ideas go by...

2011-02-01T17:13:00.000-08:00

I finally got the right green painted in the hallway. Sherwin Williams Hep Green. The hallway seems dark, but it actually, somehow, was too bright for the last green, so I went down a swatch on the fan deck. It perfectly matches the tea kettle we have. P.S. the weird light bulb we have is making it look crazy in the photo. Just so you know.

Now,...my problem. What do I paint the interior of my open cabinets? Right now it's a sort of medium yellow. I was thinking of painting it Frolic, the last green I had in the hallway and the green I used to make the floral design on the cabinets. Not quite so dark, but still lime-y.

Or white?

Or more pale blue?

Or coral?

I plan on filling the shelves with turquoise dishes and such, so I wanted something that showcases them without making them change color. Maybe a lighter coral. Like Jovial.
Wow! Those colors are WAY off from what my fan deck says. I'd write to SW, but I think they're sick of my opinions. Well, then, stop sending me surveys!

I'd love your two cents. I can't figure out what to do.

Easier being green

2011-01-29T08:30:00.000-08:00

Changed it to green. I went to buy some more of the mandarin paint and was told that the yellow based paints are only avaible in one type of paint, which costs $52. And that they were out of yellow base.

So I went to OSH and thought I'd get an orange there. Something similar or maybe a little darker. But then I was presented with endless possibilities. And I had no idea what new color to get. So I came home and grabbed the leftover green paint in my garage and the boys and I painted it green. And painted the boys green.

Peach Tree Dish

2011-01-29T08:21:00.000-08:00

I stole that title from Sarah Silverman. She's funny.

MunkeyMind

2011-01-28T09:03:00.000-08:00

My amazing eyeball loving sister-in-law is back in business on her blog, MunkeyMind. She recently discovered SketchBook Pro and has not looked up for 3 weeks.

She works as an art director and has appeared as Artist in Residence on Turf Wars.

You might remember this, especially if you've been to my house:

That is like a Chuck Close version of Barkley. He looks EXACTLY like that. Perpetually annoyed by boys.

Procrastipainting

2011-01-26T16:08:00.000-08:00

I have a billion things I should be working on. Including dinner.

And the rest of this:

H is for Heart

2011-01-26T09:11:00.000-08:00

Hartwell's birthday is Valentine's Day. And this year, he asked that his party's theme be "hearts. Because I'm Hartwell and my birthday is Valentine's Day." Fair enough. I have about two years left of that.
His preschool class has a Valentine's party and they hand out valentine's. I thought Hartwell would like these little felt hearts for his friends. The ones who have morning drink with him, (drinking out of the bathroom sinks), and the ones who play bikes with him and even the ones who taught him to open bags of chips by pounding the air out of them.

For the note, I used a sort of french knot. I need to improve my H's. Their simplicity is misleading.

Shelf Life

2011-01-24T08:25:00.000-08:00

Remember this? I found it at a thrift store for $10. Which is highway robbery considering I just purchased three solid wood tables, including a five foot coffee table, from another thrift store for $35. But who's counting?

It took me forever to figure out what to do. I knew I wanted it white, but it looked so sloppy when I painted it. The first painter did not know I would be using a gloss over the green. It all worked out, though because I just distressed it letting the lime show through.

Here it is:

As you can see, I found knobs and cups that that fit together. But how to hide the threads of the screw? My husband bought some metal tube pieces, but we would've had to cut them and all that to get them to fit. So I took some twine and a glue gun, heading back to my Mormon roots, and just wrapped and glued. It also provides a soft spot upon which the cup hangs!

Also? I need to buy two more cups. But $12 each is a little much. So I'm gonna buy them one at a time. That'll show 'em.

Rest on your florals

2011-01-19T14:24:00.000-08:00

How About Orange, one of my most favorite bloggers, featured a tutorial using fabric stiffener. Delightful! I love fabric...I also have a LOT of it. So I bought the product and gave it a whirl.

My only trouble was finding a surface on which to paint the fabric. I used parchment paper, but it wrinkled, which made my fabric wrinkle. And then aluminum foil, which I thought would speed up the drying time. Kinda. That seems to be the best, if not most wasteful option for me at the time.

Let me know if you know of a better way!

This pretty flower is for the amazing woman who will be hosting our craft night tonight.

Producing Bags

2011-01-12T09:02:00.000-08:00

Another MOMS Club raffle prize. Have I mentioned that I'm supposed to get stuff donated from local businesses? And how I tried but got shut down? So I just started making stuff?

Well, that's what happened.

These are reusable produce bags that fold up to fit in your purse. I found the pattern at Daisy Janie. The best part is you use fat quarters, so there's no actual cutting beyond the handles. Except that I couldn't find any fat quarters in my stash. But I did have these scraps I got at the Crate & Barrel Outlet store. $1/pound for Marimekko fabric? Yes, please!

Someday I'll make some for myself. It's a little weird that I just stack carrots bagless in my cart. And then the checker has to handle my produce. And not in the good way.

Here's Where I Start to Lose You...

2011-01-10T09:19:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of my hallway...well, hallways. The green one is off the kitchen and leads to the back door, the taupe one contains all the doorways. Bedrooms, bathroom, living room. It has a built in closet which houses linens and Brother & Sisters DVDs, we have all of them, as well as medicines and toiletries.

I repainted the kitchen hall Frolic, (Still a little light for my taste), but it leads me to think I need to repaint the other hall. The brown cabinet is slowly chipping back to Navajo white and the Taupe could use a touch up...

Enter LEGO!

I built this as a model for what I want to do with the hallway. John nearly rolled his eyes, he's not into my crazy methods...but it totally worked for me...

And now,...I give you...LEGO paint model of my hall!!!

I want to paint the hall with black and white horizontal stripes! The vertical white LEGO is the cabinet trim, the cabinet will be black. The lime is the kitchen hallway. It's like the same view! (Scroll up and see!)

And like that,...you're gone.

No TV makes Courtney a bored girl.

2011-01-06T06:42:00.000-08:00

Here they are all finished! I just have to clear coat the middle cabinets and maybe the drawers one more time.

In case you forgot, this is what I started with:

Three years later I did this:

And a year and a half later:

Based on my previous time lines, looks like I have nine months until I go nuts and paint it another color. Also? That orange floor was of-FENSIVE. Thanks for being so nice about it.

My patterns and steps appear in the previous posts...

"Mom, I yike it when you paint."

2011-01-05T09:32:00.000-08:00

Here's something fun and interesting...all my cabinets are different sizes. I know! It's neither fun NOR interesting! But now you understand my pain. I had to design 3 different, yet matching, cabinet faces.

Not that it was hard, I have a very lazy craft person inside me who figures out how to do the least amount of work, it was just another step in what I thought was a quick face lift.

When I finish the smallest cabinets, I'll post that design as well. If it turns out...