Apropos

My sister suggested dust masks for the nearly smoked out (not that kind) party.

Stuff I made.

Tool belts by Courtney: I based the pattern off of these and adjusted them to my guys.

"Busy Bee's Construction: When you want it done by a two year old. Since 2007, " ironed on to yellow t-shirts.

Hartwell was a crane operator. Bee? The Foreman.

Dirt scented yellow truck soap. And stickers!

Food for the party

Mmmmm....cupcakes. Just your standard chocolate cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese icing and food processed Oreos. With silver jimmies, of course.

Nuts & Bolts: Bins from the 99 cents store. With hex crackers, honey roasted peanuts, twisty pretzels, meringues, chocolate covered sunflower seeds and snap pea crisps for color.

Bricks and Mortar: Carrots and cream cheese. My inventive guests combined the nuts and bolts with the mortar for a delightful treat.

Maccheesehotdog with a twist: Wheel shaped pasta!

And, of course, the prizes for the game...ROCK CANDY!

This party is on fire!

Little Bee's birthday party! Probably my favorite picture of the event. Hartwell is wearing the shirt I made that read,"Busy Bee's Construction: When you want it done by a two-year old. Since 2007." You can see the giant pic of Bee I made here. The shelves covered in trucks, the table with stamp pads for an activity. The handmade tool belts. And the hats with logos.

And best of all you can see that the TV is on and I'm watching the news to see what's going on with the fire that's raging less than a mile away. There is actually fire on the screen. I could not have planned it better if I tried.

Home Improvement?

Before:

After:

Don't look now there a MunkeyMind on your back...

My sister-in-law is awesome! Here's a flyer for her art opening. And a link to her blog.

Bee's Birthday!

Thanks to my cottage industrialist for the google talk. She helped me figure out the bad asp mailing label. Seriously, Cameron, you should rent yourself out on google talk. $20/hour for inspiration and links. But not for me. I'd have to get a second job to support my habit.

So we're comin' out of the kitchen...

This is what I've been doing for the past week. And since the kitchen in circa 1940, I keep running into issues. Like I had to tile. TILE! The entire front tile piece came off in a chunk. But I couldn't just re-mortar it, noooo,...I had to use my brain and figure out that epoxy is the best way to reattach the tiles. Then re-grout them. And then since the tiles above the bread board opening were broken, I had to stand in front of the tile section at Lowes and find something that would work for that space while my children played in the carpet samples.

It turned out pretty good, though. So good that it draws attention to all the bad stuff that I now have to fix. Like that chip. And the fact that I can see nail head through my paint job. Thank you, 1940's, for the awesome cabinets. 4 coats of paint and you can still see every blemish that I thought I had sanded away.

Someday, though, I'll get this kitchen. Oh, yes. I will.

Also? I'm having the worst time photographing it. Shiny blue cabinets with stark white tile?! Nightmare. I'll get a better "after" when I figure out the lighting.

In case you forgot the before:

Paradise by the cooktop light.

Too much Top Chef.

Bird is the word.

My grandma is kind of awesome. Gramma Pokey, we call her. She is the kind of gal who would see my favorite vintage dish ware at an antique store and buy it for me. And even include the value! So I made her this little guy. It's hard to think of what to make a grandma. I think they have everything. I guess I could have sent photos. But I thought this was just a pretty little thing to say thank you. And remind her of me.

Hot Pocket.

My first project in the new sewing room. Another bag. This one with a pocket!

Ooooh!

I hope the recipient likes pattern. Lots and lots of pattern.

Sew what? I'm still a rock star...

This weekend I decided I wanted a sewing room. We have a weird little room in the basement that used to be the guitar room. It's got paneling, stairs to no where and a toilet. A working toilet. So I cleaned it out, but kept the guitars, and only spent $20 on a rug. (I'm very impressed with myself). For a shelf I used an etagere that came with the house and the table is a table top I found in the garage. I used a weird cement deal that juts out next to the stairs to no where as a base and for the other "leg" a plastic drawer unit. I also carried my drafting table from the garage, down a very narrow flight of stairs and into the tiny room. I missed my table! Perpendicular lines, here I come! I put it next to the toilet hoping to hide it.

I'm very excited about my room. Now I don't have to stress about finding supplies and clearing a space to work. Which was usually on the floor and I usually had to vacuum first. And no one wants to begin a project by vacuuming.