adventures in home-making

Micah + a bowl of cherries + her new sandals, which are a little too small but for $2.88, they fit just fine.

 

 

Silk and Silver.

Silk and Silver, our two hens

won't lay eggs for gentlemen.

So we built for them a Taj

hoping they'd do more for the Raj;

the ladies are not amused,

our feminist hens refuse to be used.

The stink bug in our family.

Max's stink bug ate his two earthworms. I'm up for seeing how the stink bug does when faced with two mean, lady hens...

Sewing frenzy.

A beautiful friendship between me and my Singer has finally begun.... Yesterday, I whipped up a batch of table napkins, added some vintage fabric to a pillow cover, created a ladderback chair cover, and made two skirts + 1 shirt for Micah. This morning, I added matching flair to Max and Micah's shirts. There is no stopping me now....

Here is Micah in the new house-dress I made for her while  the boys played Intelli-Vision. Not professional, but a heck of a lot of plain old-fashioned fun!

Random old book post.

Art inspired by Eric Carle.

The plethora of old magazines was put to good use this weekend.... We cut out shapes and created our very own insect.

A sewing sign

my new sign, originally uploaded by paper-and-string-on-flickr.

After all the money I spent on fabrics, elastic, and notions this weekend, I've starting organizing my craft corner-- we don't have room for a craft room. What better way to begin than with this lovely inspiration?

My beautiful mom turns 61.

Here she is, with her grandchildren while fighting the latest virus so kindly donated by her patients.

Since my mother, the hero, was sick on her birthday, we celebrated yesterday with Thai food from Ruan and flowers in our hair. Mom decided she wanted a "hippie party", so I played along. Patrick forgot it was a hippie party and told me it's hard for me to dress like a hippy since this is how I normally look.

Dinner was yummy, so we wandered over to the Coryell house for some cigars and puppy-time.

Carla and Jeremy have a new puppy, called "Lessi", who is Giuseppe's younger sister. Apparently, Giuseppe takes being a big brother seriously enough to impress her; she has eyes only for him. When we walked over, she cried when she didn't see Giuseppe right beside her.

Later, Carla stroked her to sleep; if a dog has ever almost purred, that was the moment. Below, Lessi is trying to decide whether she should snuggle up with Carla or try to get that plastic doughnut back from Micah.

Disco on the cow rug.

M & M have gotten into the beautiful habit of turning on their ITunes playlist (mixed by Momma DJ, of course) and spinning around the living room like little tops, giggling and getting cross-eyed before finally collapsing in piles of dizzied laughter. I wish everyone could see them-- it brings tears to my eyes. I've always hoped so much that my children would feel a deep and abiding love for one another....

I've included a tune from the playlist so you can dance along with them.

THE LOOK OF LOVE - ABC

Japanese dancing in Tuscaloosa.

Max's babysitters, the lovely Fourt girls, have some wicked Japanese dancing skills. A few of their dancing samples from YouTube:

• Hare Hare Yukai
• Motteke! Sailor Fuku 
• Toroden, which they performed for us live while Micah watched with envy and Max commented, "That's really really awesome..."

10 fun ways to play with Mod Podge.

Max and I took a little trip to Hobby Lobby, where they are having a sale on all metal garden decorations and furniture. Of course, we didn't find any "decor" within our price range, but we did pick up a bottle of Mod Podge and 3 yards of funky fabric. Now for a few ways to play with our new toys:

1. Make a Springtime canvas. Or a late summer canvas, as it were.
2. Cut and paste maps onto old milk cartons for earth-friendly storage bins.  
3. Mod Podge collage.  
4. Decoupage a boring wall switchplate. 
5. Turn a chair into a sitting extravaganza. 
6. Vintage animal collages for the kids room. Doubles as great practice for those scissor skills. 
7. Try your hand at a sketchbook painting.  
8. Toilet paper roll stars.  
9. An altered book.  
10. Cover your car with fabric.  

Max made a multiplication table!!

Micah plays with Vanilla in Bunica's garden.

My mom and Gary have started their annual garden competition. So far, Gary's garden seems to be doing well in the tomato department, while mom's garden wins the award for "Great Expectations" look. 

So we snuck to Mom's garden the other afternoon to sneak a few blueberries. Micah looked for cucumbers while Vanilla, well, I'm not sure what Vanilla was doing....

Pickl paper= perfect gifts.

I made a gifting wish-list today thanks to Whitney's wonderful Pikl Paper. Back in high school, Whitney was the one whose chemistry charts (and daily doodles) were worthy of art prizes. Now, she is a wife, mother, and small business owner whose artistic gift informs her work. Whitney makes sippy cup labels, announcements, enclosure cards, stickers, diaper bag tags, address labels, notecards, and piklpocketpics. 

A few that ended up on (or near) my list....but there are so many more which I couldn't share because I couldn't download the file format. But see for yourself. Especially keep your eyes open for the enclosure with the little bird on the windowsill....

A willow house.

Willow House Sprouting, originally uploaded by Ian Haycox.

A beautiful way to make a playhouse for children and their playful parents-- the sort of playhouse that smells like vibrant life (rather than plastic or paint) when you step into it. I love it.

Aprons again.

Sassy Apron Swap, Spring, originally uploaded by jessilong.

Speaking of sassy aprons...

Vintage fabric-covered thumbtacks.

vintage fabric-covered thumbtacks, originally uploaded by howaboutorange.

On my craft-like-crazy spree, these thumbtacks are beautiful. If you click on the photo, you can find a tutorial for making them.

Vintage fabric-covered thumbtacks.

vintage fabric-covered thumbtacks, originally uploaded by howaboutorange.

On my craft-like-crazy spree, these thumbtacks are beautiful.

Apron colorshow.

10-03-2009 El delantal de Zoe / Zoe's apron, originally uploaded by Julie Alvarez.

It's the light, it's the colors, it's the new affinity I have for aprons since children and dough entered my life....

How to use old dirty doilies.

Wouldn't this pretty up an empty space?, originally uploaded by Ravenhill Designs.

Cut off the dirty parts and add the doilies to fabric scraps to make this beautiful wall garland.

Prayers for Griffin Billings.

Ever since I first heard about little Griffin Bllings' struggle with leukemia from Clare's blog, I can't stop thinking about him and his family. A mother knows how quickly her heart sinks when a little one is ill-- and I find myself stopping to pray often during the day for this courageous, loving family.

Griffin's mother, Mollie, updates the journal with prayer requests, struggles, and opportunities for us to help. Right now, the Billings are in need of assistance with their one-year-old daughter, Olive June, since they have been making many trips to the hospital in Atlanta.

If you live anywhere near Athens, Georgia, please consider attending the Griffin Billings 5K Run on July 18th. Those who can't attend can probably still purchase a T-shirt. You can see the design, made by Griffin's dad, to the right...